Amarillo, Texas, April 5, 2005– Julian DeVargas’ A Long Goodbye broke the 440-yard world record while winning the $108,000 MBNA America Challenge Championship (G1) in :20.686. Pending verification, the 5-year-old gelding will lower the record of :20.773 set by Kendall Jackson in 2002.
Carried by a 14 mph tailwind, the gelding and Esgar Ramirez won by a length over Special Task Force and earned a 110 speed index. Viva La Vicky finished third, followed by Dashin Kirk, Streakin Kilobyte, Shakem Elvis, Vital Jewel, Can Straw Fly, The Good Boy and Catscape.
Trained by his owner, A Long Goodbye has improved dramatically over the past year. Plucked from a claiming race for $6,250 on April 13, 2003, by his trainer, he won his first stakes in August 2004, the La Plata Handicap. He then won the OB Cockerell Handicap. This year he finished third in the KHEY/Y96 Handicap (G3) and West Texas Maturity (G2). He has now won 16 of 32 starts and earned $223,939.
Bred by Donny Gene Shadwick in Oklahoma, A Long Goodbye is by Pure D Dash and out of the Tiny’s Gay mare Tinys Gay Moon. This is the first stakes winner for the stakes-placed mare. He is one of 14 stakes winners for Pure D Dash, a 15-year-old son of Dash For Cash.
A Long Goodbye is now eligible for the $300,000 MBNA America Challenge Championship (G1) to be held November 5 at Los Alamitos.
For more information on AQHA and America’s Fastest Athlete visit www.aqha.com.
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