Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sent to post as the 3-5 favorite, Facil Catana recorded her third consecutive victory in Saturday’s $30,000 Fair Queen Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at The Downs at Albuquerque.
Facil Catana covered 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15.77 after setting fractions of :23.53 and :45.74 under jockey Ricardo Jaime, who was riding the bay daughter of Untuttable for the first time in a race. Henry Dominguez saddled Facil Catana for owner Lathrop G. Hoffman of Sierra Madre, California.
Bred in Florida by Gilbert G. Campbell, Facil Catana is one of eight stakes winners from 142 starters sired by Untuttable, a son of the Fappiano stallion Unbridled and a half brother to Queen Tutta, a Kris S. mare who won the listed $89,700 Pebbles Stakes at Belmont Park in 1995. Now 14, Untuttable has sired seven crops and the earners of more than $6.1 million, including his top earner, Grade 2 winner This Ones For Phil. The stallion stands for a $2,500 fee at Stonehedge Farm South near Williston, Florida.
Facil Catana’s dam, the winning 11-year-old Hennessy mare Brad’s Sweet Girl, has produced three winners from as many starters, including Soberano, a full brother to Facil Catana who ran third in two stakes in Puerto Rico last year.
Facil Catana’s third dam, Lovin Touch, was a daughter of the Raise A Native stallion Majestic Prince who won two stakes in 1983 and ran second in that season’s Grade 2, $116,000 Black Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, Maryland. A 1980 foal, Lovin Touch foaled nine winners from nine starters, including Caressing, the winner of the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs and that season’s champion 2-year-old filly.
An earner of $102,490 from five wins in nine starts, Facil Catana has raced exclusively in New Mexico. The filly was making her first start since the Fourth of July, when she won the 6 ½-furlong, $50,000 Frontier Trophy Buckles Allowance Stakes by 2 ¾ lengths at SunRay Park.
Earlier this season, Facil Catana ran third, 8 ½ lengths behind winner Queen Greeley, in the 1-mile, $50,000 Island Fashion Stakes at Sunland Park, the final local prep for the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The filly was a $35,000 buy at last year’s Ocala Breeders’ Spring Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Military Mother ran second, 5 ½ lengths behind Facil Catana, and was followed by Unloch The Fury, Amber Got Even, Chabelita, Mile High Honey, Badgett’s Royal, Sweep The Road, and Affair Trade.
A $2,000 buy at the ’08 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Military Mother earned $6,000 to boost her bankroll to $28,580 for owner Eddie Bergkamp. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Military has won two of nine races, and she was coming off of consecutive second-place finishes at Arapahoe Park near Denver.
Unloch The Fury has earned $50,815 from two wins in 13 starts for owners Lawrence DeRespino and Tony Klenakis, who also trains the Kentucky-bred daughter of Wild And Wicked. Campaigned at Turf Paradise last winner, Unloch The Fury ran third in both the Scottsdale Handicap and Arizona Oaks.