BE A BONO LEADS TOUGH FIELD IN GO MAN GO

Amarillo, Texas, September 15, 2006 – Spencer Childers’ homebred Be A Bono, the 2004 world champion, goes for his third straight Grade 1 win when he faces a talent-packed roster of older horses in the $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap (G1) on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

High weighted at 127 pounds, the Dan Francisco-trainee has been racing in championship form in 2006 with Grade 1 victories in the Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship (RG1) and the Vessels Maturity (G1) in his two most recent starts. His sole 2006 loss was a third in his Vessels Maturity trial after a nearly six-month layoff.

Be A Bono (Bono Jazz – Be Peacefull by Raise A Secret) has career earnings of $1,141,511 from 12 wins in 18 career starts.

Kirk Goodfellow’s Catchmeinyourdreams (Pritzi Dash-Lizas Mystique by White Tie) is the three-time defending champion aged gelding and is poised to join the millionaire’s club with a career bankroll of $989,865.  A top-two finish in the Saturday night showdown would make the 7-year-old gelding the 45th AQHA racing millionaire.  The longtime member of the Chris O’Dell stable is looking for his first 2006 stakes win after two second-place efforts in the Childers and  the MBNA America California Challenge (G2).

Among Catchmeinyourdreams’ 13 wins is the 2004 Go Man Go (G1) and last year’s MBNA America Challenge Championship (G1) and Los Alamitos Championship, a race he has won for three consecutive years.

Joel Pierce’s Gold Medal Jess (Mr Jess Perry – Gold Medal Dash by First Down Dash) will try returning to his winning form of last winter when he won three stakes races, capped by a victory in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship (G1) where he defeated Apollos Favorite and Like Frankie And Me.  The Bret Vickery-trained gelding comes into the Go Man Go off a troubled seventh in the Vessels Maturity as the favorite and a fourth in the MBNA America California Challenge.

Like Frankie And Me (Streakin La Jolla – Terra Cotta Red by Ronas Ryon), owned and conditioned by Carlos Lopez, has yet to capture a stakes victory.  In spite of that, he’s built a record of 5-5-4 in 18 starts and earnings of $402,182 with top-three appearances in seven blacktype races, including a second in the Golden State Million Futurity (G1) as a 2-year-old and thirds in the All American Derby (G1), the Los Alamitos Winter Derby (G1) and the Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Stakes (G3).  He placed second in the Champion of Champions (G1) in 2005.  His last effort was an eighth-place finish in the MBNA America California Challenge (G2) on August 26, after a six-month layoff.

For results of this and all official American Quarter Horse racing events, visit aqharacing.com.