Monday, June 20, 2011
A one-time $12,500 claimer, Ghostly Beach earned her first stakes win in Monday's Aztec Oaks (R) for New Mexico-bred 3-year-old fillies at SunRay Park.
Ghostly Beach went 6 ½ furlongs in 1:17.79 while defeating longshot Charleston Bound by 3 ¾ lengths. Alejandro Medellin rode the gray or roan daughter of Ghostly Moves for owner William Brook Henderson and trainer Jose A. Gonzalez.
Bred by Richard L. Parrish, Ghostly Beach was acquired by Henderson for $7,500 at last year's New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale at Ruidoso Downs. The filly became the 19th stakes winner sired by Ghostly Moves, a son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Silver Ghost whose 163 starters have earned more than $8.4 million.
Ghostly Moves was foaled in 1992, and he was the 2008 New Mexico Horse Breeders' Association Thoroughbred stallion of the year. Racing from 1994-98, he banked $272,259 from six wins in 23 starts, and his stakes record included a second-place finish in Tejano Run's 1997 Widener Handicap (G3) at Hialeah Park in Florida.
Ghostly Beach's dam, Churn, is a 14-year-old winning daughter of the Halo stallion Devil's Bag. Her second dam, No Butter, was a winning and Grade 3-placed daughter of Nodouble.
All told, Ghostly Beach has won five of 11 races, and the $51,000 winner's share of the Aztec Oaks purse increased her earnings to $140,171.The filly was coming off of a five-length victory in a 6 1/2-furlong state-bred allowance race at SunRay Park on May 23.
On January 4, while racing from the barn of trainer Chris Hartman, Ghostly Beach scored a three-quarter length win in a maiden $12,500 claiming race at Sunland Park. She followed that up with an entry level allowance victory and a second-place finish to Iplaytricks in the March 27, $100,000 New Mexico Breeders' Oaks (R) at Sunland.
“She's doing well,” said Henderson. “She's done a good job of working her way up since she broke her maiden for $12,500. We gave her to Jose after Chris Hartman went to Prairie Meadows.”
Sent to post as the 4-1 third choice, Ghostly Beach paid a $10.20 win mutuel. The filly teamed with Charleston Bound, a 47-1 longshot, for a $193.60 ($2) exacta. Babicora ran third, 4 ¼ lengths behind Ghostly Beach, to complete a $686.20 ($2) trifecta.
Shamrock Girl, the 9-10 favorite, ran fourth and was followed by Go To Gold, Squallena, Iplaytricks, Cocktailsforafatman, and Tennis Star.
A homebred filly by the Affirmed stallion Night Fright racing for Mary W. Balch and trained by Cliff Lambert, Charleston Bound earned $17,000 to push her bankroll to $45,490. Charleston Bound has made eight starts, all but one of which have been made this year, and her two career wins include a 6 1/2-furlong New Mexico-bred non-winners-of-two allowance victory at SunRay on May 2.
Babicora is a homebred gray or roan daughter of the Seattle Slew stallion King Of The Hunt owned by Paul and Susan Vescovo and Michael Richeson. The filly was making her first start since April 12, when she won a state-bred 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight sprint by 6 ½ lengths at Sunland Park. Babicora has earned $33,900 from four outs from the barn of trainer Joel Marr.