Sunday, April 03, 2011
A 28-1 longshot, Jose Angel Esparza's Hez Our Rock scored a 1 1/2-length victory in Sunday's Red Cell New Mexico Distance Challenge (G3) at Sunland Park.
Esgar Ramirez rode Hez Our Rock for trainer Salvador Soto, as the sorrel 5-year-old gelding covered 870 yards in :44.824. He earned a berth in the October 29, $125,000 Red Cell Distance Challenge Championship (G1) at Los Alamitos Racecourse in California.
Hez Our Rock was bred in Oklahoma by Rex and Sharon Brooks. The gelding's sire, the 11-year-old First Down Dash stallion Granite Lake, earned $104,778 from 2002-04, and his five wins in 13 outs included the '03 West Texas Derby (G2) at Sunland.
Granite Lake stood the 2010 season for a $1,200 fee at Thiago Boechat's Boechat Equine at Purcell, Oklahoma.
Hez Our Rock's dam is the Bold Episode mare Like My Mom.
All told, Hez Our Rock has won four of 20 races – including one of three at the 870 distance – and the $27,891 winner's share of the $57,960 New Mexico Distance Challenge purse pushed his earnings to $54,921. The gelding was coming off of a third-place finish in the second of two trials on March 19, in which he posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time.
Hez Our Rock returned a $59.20 win mutuel and teamed with runner-up A Deadly Choice, the 7-2 second choice for a $1 exacta payoff of $112.60. Sheet Burns, the fastest qualifier and 2-5 favorite, finished third, two lengths behind the winner.
Royal Initiative, Apollos First Down, Regal Colors, Mountain Man, and Bazooka Jo completed the order of finish.
A Deadly Choice is a sorrel 4-year-old gelding by A Regal Choice racing for Arden Sue Floyd from the barn of James J. Gonzales II. A Deadly Choice has earned $47,707 from three wins in 11 outs, and his stakes resume includes a second-place finish to Kool Cade in last year's 550-yard, $18,000 Brigand Overnight Stakes at Ruidoso Downs.
Sheet Burns was two weeks removed from a 4 ¾-length victory as the 1-5 choice in the first New Mexico Distance Challenge trial. Racing for Maclovio Regalado, the black 9-year-old gelding by champion Okey Dokey Dale has won 20 of 76 races and has banked $333,010. Sheet Burns three 870 stakes last season, including the Grade 3, $55,000 Herman Jefferson Stakes at Zia Park.