Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Confidently ridden by Carlos Madeira, Attitude E Racer was able to avoid the trouble on the first turn and win the $85,000 Dine Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred 3-year-olds at SunRay Park on Tuesday.
Attitude E Racer covered his 6 1/2-furlong trip in 1:17.97. Sent to post as the 3-1 second choice, the Desert God gelding held off the late charge of longshot Numberoneson to defeat that rival by a neck. Joel Marr trained Attitude E Racer for owners Joe Allen of Abilene, Texas, and Michael Stinson of Fort Worth.
Attitude E Racer was bred by Allen, and the gelding is one of 17 stakes winners from 134 starters sired by Desert God, an unraced stallion by Fappiano and a half brother to three stakes winners. Now 20, Desert God has sired 89 winners and the earners of more than $7.3 million, including Peppers Pride, a mare who won all 19 of her starts and banked $1,066,085 while racing for Allen from 2005-08.
Desert God is owned by Allen and his cousin Ron Allen of Tucson, Arizona, and the stallion stands for a $6,000 fee at Fred and Linda Alexander's A & A Ranch at Anthony, New Mexico.
Attitude E Racer's dam, Energywithattitude, is a winning 13-year-old mare by High Energy who ran third in the $153,290 Texas Thoroughbred Association Sale Futurity (R) at Lone Star Park in 2000. The mare's starters include Fullofenergy, an 8-year-old Desert Gold gelding who has won the last four runnings of the 7 1/2-furlong, $50,000 Land Of Enchantment Stakes (R) during the Zia Festival at Ruidoso Downs.
Earlier this year, Attitude E Racer scored a 2 1/4-length win in the 1 1/16-mile, $100,000 New Mexico Breeders' Derby (R) at Sunland Park. All told, the gelding has won three of six races, and the $51,000 winner's share of the Dine Stakes purse increased his earnings to $134,804.
On June 12, Attitude E Racer finished third as the even-money choice, 7 ½ lengths behind winner Strong Punch, in a 6 1/2-furlong race for New Mexico-bred sophomores at SunRay Park. In that race, the gelding lost a shoe in the first turn.
River Grade Trick finished third, 2 ½ lengths behind runner-up Numberoneson. Doms Flash, Running Squall, Mi Domscat, Beau Wizer, Strong Punch, Verny and It's Tera completed the official order of finish.
Strong Punch crossed the wire sixth but was disqualified and placed eighth for lugging out down the backstretch and forcing Beau Wizer to steady.
Numberoneson is a homebred gelding by Mr. Trieste, a 10-year-old son of Old Trieste who won four stakes in New Mexico in '06. A finalist in last year's George Maloof Futurity (R) during the New Mexico State Fair portion of The Downs at Albuquerque meet, Numberoneson has won two of 12 races and has banked $43,992 for his owners, Richard W. Lueck and Gary Cross.
River Grade Trick has earned $72,794 for his owners, Cesar Dominguez, Henry Dominguez, and William Foltz. The homebred gelding by the stakes-winning Favorite Trick stallion Disappearing Trick has won three of 12 races, and he was coming off of a half-length victory in a 5 1/2-furlong state-bred allowance sprint at Ruidoso Downs on June 19.
The Dine Stakes is named in honor of the homeland of the Navajo Native American tribe. The eastern gateway to the Navajo Nation is located just a few miles west of SunRay Park.