Saturday, February 12, 2011
Leading at every call, Lathrop Hoffman's Hayley's Halo scored a two-length victory in Saturday's $50,000 El Diario Stakes for fillies and mares at Sunland Park.
Hayley's Halo set fractions of :22.56 and :44.70 before she reached the wire in 1:15.61 for 6 ½ furlongs. Alejandro Medellin rode the homebred 4-year-old daughter of Sea Of Secrets for trainer Henry Dominguez.
“She trains well over this track,” said Dominguez. “She was fit and ready to go. Luckily, everything turned out the way we planned.
“She's really blossomed racing over natural dirt and has become a seasoned racehorse,” added the trainer, who indicated that Hayley's Halo might make her next start in the one-mile, $100,000 Harry Henson Handicap on Sunland Derby Day, March 27.
Bred in California, Hayley's Halo is one of 16 stakes winners from nine crops sired by Sea Of Secrets, a 16-year-old Storm Cat stallion who won the 1998 San Vicente Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita and is a half brother to Grade 3 winners Dancing Jon, Fight For Love, and Love That Jazz. Sea Of Secrets has sired 297 starters and the earners of more than $15.2 million. He stands for a $2,500 fee at Ballena Vista Farm at Ramona, California.
Hayley's Halo is also one of five winners from as many starters produced by the unraced 13-year-old Peaks And Valleys mare Hilo Halo. Her third dam, the Relaunch mare Luthier's Launch, earned $413,351 from 1989-90, and her four wins in 29 starts included the listed $50,000 Dogwood Stakes at Churchill Downs in '89.
Luthier's Launch also ran second in eight stakes, including the Grade 2 La Canada and El Encino stakes at Santa Anita in 1990, and the 1989 Falls City Handicap (G3) at Churchill Downs.
Hayley's Halo's fourth dam, Tanapa (FR), was a winning daughter of Luthier (FR) who produced four stakes winners from 11 starters, including Tamise, a filly by Time For A Change who won the 1995 Prix de Flore (G3) at St. Cloud, France, and Quirinetta, an Ardross (IRE) filly who won a Grade 3 stakes in South Africa in '89.
All told, Hayley's Halo has won six of 14 races, and the $30,000 winner's share of the El Diario Stakes purse pushed her earnings to $202,060, of which $178,400 has been banked since she shipped to New Mexico from California during the winter of 2010. The mare has won four consecutive races, including two stakes at Zia Park – the 6-furlong, $55,360 Zia Distaff Stakes on November 27, and the one-mile, $60,090 Chaves County Stakes on October 3.
Hayley's Halo's stakes resume includes a second-place finish to Harissa in last year's $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks.
Tornado Betty, She'smylittleman, Miss Heather Lee, Queen Greeley, Snowdrop, Rote, and Selective completed the order of finish.
A 4-year-old Comic Strip mare racing for Guy Francone and Stable HMA, Tornado Betty has banked $163,085 from 18 outs, and her five wins include last year's 6-furlong, $60,000 Goldfinch Stakes on a sloppy track at Prairie Meadows in Iowa. The one-time $12,500 claimer also won the $50,000 Arizona Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Turf Paradise in 2009.
She'smylittleman finished five lengths behind Hayley's Halo as the 9-5 favorite in the field of eight. The homebred 5-year-old daughter of Valid Wager earned $5,000 to push her bankroll to $91,130 for owner Tommy Town Thoroughbreds LLC of Santa Ynez, California.