14/05/2024
Making the second start of his 3-year-old season, Cruz E. Nava's Tempting Alibi (pictured) won Friday's 350-yard, $50,000 Leon Bard Memorial Stakes (R) for Texas-bred sophomores at Sam Houston Race Park.
Tempting Alibi was sent to post at odds of 10-1, and he reached the wire a neck in front of 1-5 favorite Gotagogh in :17.595. Luis Vivanco rode the gelded son of champion Tempting Dash for trainer Jose Sanchez.
Tempting Alibi was coming off of a second-place finish in a 110-yard, $10,000 non-winners-of-three allowance dash at Louisiana Downs on January 30. The gelding was bred by Michael S. Amburn, and he was a $32,500 buy at the 2022 TQHA Yearling Sale in San Antonio.
Tempting Alibi has won three of eight races while campaigned in two states, including Louisiana, and the $30,000 winner's share of the purse from his first stakes score increased his bankroll to $51,781.
Also on Friday, Oscar Andrade Jr. rode Ladys Gotta Jet to a neck victory in the $50,000 John Buchanan Memorial Stakes (R) for Texas-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Prepped by John Stinebaugh for owner Pete Scarmardo of Caldwell, Texas, Ladys Gotta Jet covered 350 yards in :17.875. The homebred EC Jet One filly earned $30,000 from her first career stakes score.
Ladys Gotta Jet is out of Lady Lilia, a winning California-bred daughter of 1987 world champion First Down Dash, and she is a half sister to Grade 2 winner This Is An Eagle. Her second dam, the Sixarun mare Lady Tenaya, won the '02 AQHA Distaff Challenge Championship (G1) at Lone Star Park.
Raced exclusively in Texas, Ladys Gotta Jet has won three of nine outs -- including two of three at this track -- and she has earned $50,732.
DM Bella Star, the 9-5 favorite, was fractious in the gate according to the Equibase chart, and ran sixth.
Photo by Coady Media
