{"id":1259,"date":"2007-11-07T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2007-11-06T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2007-11-07T00:01:39","modified_gmt":"2007-11-06T17:01:39","slug":"six-new-challenge-champions-crowned-for-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/industry\/six-new-challenge-champions-crowned-for-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"SIX NEW CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS CROWNED FOR 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal, November 6, 2007<\/em> \u2013 Freddie Martinez rode Strawkins to a dominating half-length victory Saturday night in the Grade-1, 440-yard headliner event of the 2007 Bank of America Racing Challenge Championships.<\/p>\n

The Paul Jones-trained gelding overcame a bumpy start out of the tenth hole to finish in 21:393, edging out Let It Snowman, who also had to recover from early bumping. The Dona and Peggy Boyle-owned Strawkins (Hawkinson-Shirleys Strawfly by Strawfly Special) raised his career earnings past the half-million mark, to $544,156.<\/p>\n

Poker Feature and Angelas Toast finished third and fourth.<\/p>\n

Another favorite, Czech N Out Ashley, came through in the $200,000 Bayer Legend Derby Challenge Championship (G1) for 3-year-olds, winning by three-quarters of a length over long shot Sold On Special. Alex Bautista rode the Salvador Salazar-owned gelding 400 yards to a speed index of 92.<\/p>\n

Snowy Alibi and Blues Six Gun rounded out the top four.<\/p>\n

Paul Jones collected another of his four Racing Challenge wins Saturday when Three Green Leaves took the Ford Juvenile Challenge (G2) by half a length over Gomez Palacio. The filly by Tres Seis out of Sky Glow and owned by J. Garvan Kelly and Nancy Yearsley ran her 350 yards in :17.458. She led the field of 2-year-olds the entire way and has won two of seven starts.<\/p>\n

Winning jockey Cody Jensen was another success story, as this race was one of his three wins on the evening. Stoli Powered and JW A Royal Trip finished third and fourth.<\/p>\n

The ironically-named Blazin Fire (This Snow Is Royal-Blazin Sin by Easy Crimson) came out of the California region to take the John Deere Distaff Challenge Championship (G1), her first Grade-1 win. The Paul Jones-Cody Jensen duo extended their awesome evening with a :19.571 wire-to-wire win over 400 yards. Good news for owners Dan and Lisa McMahon: that time was enough for a stakes record as well a win.<\/p>\n

What A Performace, Ima Ramblin Girl and Toole N Round completed the superfecta.<\/p>\n

The Grade-1 Red Cell Distance Challenge Championship held the least amount of drama for most handicappers, as heavy favorite Snowbound Superstar topped runner-up Bad Act by 6 \u00bd lengths, winning in :44.231 over 870 yards. This victory was yet another pairing of trainer Paul Jones and jockey Cody Jensen.<\/p>\n

The Tom and Brenda Brinkley-owned Snowbound Superstar (Snowbound (TB)-Shania Cash by Oh My Gee Whiz) pulled away well before the turn and was never challenged. The 4-year-old gelding has dominated for some time now, winning 10 of 13, including every 870-yard race he has ever entered.<\/p>\n

Second-place Bad Act was followed by First To Ramble and Kaydena.<\/p>\n

The new Fort Dodge Claiming Challenge Champion Eyesa Storm Too (Mr Eye Opener-Iam Ridiculous by Bully Bullion) finished strong in the 350-yard contest for horses that had been claimed for $5,000 or less in the past 12 months. G.R. Carter Jr. noted afterwards that this gelding has deservedly shed the title of claimer by winning some impressive races this season.<\/p>\n

The time of :17.552 was good for a speed index of 92. The Joaquin Lopez-owned and Dan Francisco-trained 5-year-old beat out Dashin Design by three-quarters and was followed by Super Sixes and Mr Step Ahead.<\/p>\n

One more big spender in the crowd would likely have meant a record-setting night at Los Alamitos Race Course as bettors wagered $2,375,988 Saturday, just $4,000 shy of the track record set on Challenge Championship night November 1, 2003.<\/p>\n

AQHA news and information is a service of AQHA publications. For more information on The American Quarter Horse Journal, The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal or America\u2019s Horse, visit www.aqha.com\/magazines<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal, November 6, 2007 \u2013 Freddie Martinez rode Strawkins to a dominating half-length victory Saturday night in the Grade-1, 440-yard headliner event of the 2007 Bank of America Racing Challenge Championships. The Paul Jones-trained gelding overcame a bumpy start out of the tenth hole to finish in 21:393, edging out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aqha","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}