Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sent to post as the 11-10 favorite, Sheet Burns scored a three-quarter length victory in Saturday’s 870-yard, $55,090 Herman Jefferson Stakes (G3) at Zia Park.
Sheet Burns covered his trip in :45.282 under jockey J. Martin Bourdieu, who rode the 8-year-old black gelding by Okey Dokey Dale for owner Maclovio Regalado and trainer Ramon Ronquillo. The victory was his 18th in 72 starts and fourth stakes score.
Sheet Burns was bred in Colorado by Don R. Hill, and the gelding is one of 48 stakes winners from eight crops sired by Okey Dokey Dale, a Grade 2-winning stallion by all-time leading sire First Down Dash and the AQHA champion 3-year-old colt in 1999. Now 14, Okey Dokey Dale has sired 554 starters and the earners of more than $10.2 million. He stands for a $2,500 fee at Dee and Betty Raper’s Belle Mere Farm at Norman, Oklahoma.
Sheet Burns is also one of three winners from six starters produced by Shes Alive And Easy, a 22-year-old daughter of 1969 world champion Easy Jet. The gelding’s third dam, the winning Gold Charger (TB) mare Go For Lily (TB), produced six winners from nine starters including Go For Bugs, a colt by Bugs Alive In 75 who ran second in the 1981 All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.
A $3,200 claimer at Los Alamitos back in 2005, Sheet Burns has earned $288,464, and his stakes resume includes victories in the October 1, $36,720 AQHA Lone Star Park Distance Challenge, and the 870-yard, $30,000 Special Hank Handicap at The Downs at Albuquerque on August 29. The gelding also won last year’s 870-yard Fine Loom Handicap at Ruidoso Downs and was the season’s New Mexico region high-point distance horse.
Shineys Magic T ran second and was followed by Louisianafeature One, Tango Blue, Zoomin N Cashin, Chocolate Mountain, and Jess Come On.
A 4-year-old gelding by Dreams Work racing for Margaret F. White, Shineys Magic T banked $12,100 to push his earnings to $55,401. Shineys Magic T has won 10 of 25 races, including three of his four 870-yard starts.
Louisianafeature One is a 4-year-old stallion by champion Jess Louisiana Blue racing for Mark Allen’s Double Eagle Ranch at Roswell, New Mexico, and the Herman Jefferson Stakes represented his first 870-yard start. Louisianafeature One has earned $99,398 from four wins in 20 outs, and his stakes record includes a runner-up finish to Jess Dellaree in the 400-yard La Plata Stakes (G2) at SunRay Park on June 13. He also was a finalist in last year’s 440-yard, $625,130 All American Derby (G1) at Ruidoso Downs.