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Chicks
Beduino lived up to his advance billing by setting a stakes record of
:17.65 in the 34th running
of the Bay
Meadows Futurity. |
 Chicks Beduino,
the gray colt that set California buzzing with his impressive debut in
March, enhanced his reputation by setting a stakes record in the 34th
running of the Grade 1 $355,713 Bay Meadows Futurity on April 20 (1986). He
ran 350 yards in :17.65 seconds, knocking two-hundredths off of the stakes
record established by Merridoc in 1979.
The result was not much of a surprise to
the fans who made him the 2-to-5 favorite on the closing day of the meet.
Chicks Beduino scored by a head from Good Wine, with Proudest Effort a neck
away in third.
It was the second straight
win in the Bay Meadows Futurity for jockey
John Creager who was on board Keep On Turning last year. It was the richest
race ever won by trainer Connie Hall and owners Joe and Rory Muniz and John
Bobenrieth Jr.
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Joe Muniz,
part owner and breeder of Chicks Beduino. RECORD photo by H. David
Smith. |
"After having claimers for a long time, it
was a surprise," Bobenrieth said. "The horse has been a surprise all along."
Chicks Beduino
was bred by Bobenrieth and his father-in-law, Joe Muniz. The colt is by
Beduino TB out of A Classy Chick, a
Chick's Deck mare that they claimed for
$12,500.
Before the Bay Meadows Futurity, Chicks
Beduino attracted attention with some impressive workouts, and a race that
was reported to be the fastest debut for a two-year-old in California
history. If there were any doubts about his ability, he scotched them by
winning his trial by more than four lengths with the fastest qualifying
time.
The $156,811 winner's check that Chicks
Beduino brought home was a big jump from the purses that the Muniz and
Bobenrieth families have shared in the past.
"Usually when you get in the winner's
circle, you have one person there taking the picture," Bobenrieth noted. "I
couldn't believe it. I think there were ten or twelve cameras clicking away.
That's when the reality of it set in for me."
He traced his involvement in the sport back
to a successful claim in 1980.
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John Creager got his second
straight win in the Bay Meadows Futurity with Chicks Beduino. Trainer
Connie Hall is pictured with the colt. RECORD
photo by H. David Smith. |
"My wife, Kathy, and I went to Los Alamitos
a couple of times just for a night out, and I brought my father-in-law out
once." he recalled. "His company puts in sewer, water and storm drains in
new tracts (in Orange County), and we were working so much, we didn't have
any hobbies or anything, so we thought, what the heck, we'll try this."
"The next morning, we met a trainer
out there, Gary Sherlock, and it went on from there. Our first horse was
Speedy Policy. He was a $10,000 claimer as a two-year-old, and it turned out
he made his money. We had two or three wins with him, so that really whet
our appetite.
But running the
claimers, you'll have them one week, and then you won't have them the next.
You finally get one that does pretty good, and then everybody wants it. I
guess that's the game.
"It started out as a hobby, just to watch
the one horse, and then it grew. We got into the broodmares, and my
father-in-law and brother-in-law already had the ranch, so it all worked
out."
Chicks Beduino, who was withdrawn from the
PCQHRA Select Yearling Sale last August, began attracting attention with his
timed workouts that are required before a horse can race in California. He
posted one of the best times on his first morning, and then had the fastest
time in his second try.
Those efforts topped him off for a sizzling
debut on March 16 when he ran 300 yards in :15.59 on a sloppy track. That
was said to be the fastest time ever recorded in California by a first-time
starter.
He showed similar form in the futurity
trials where he scored by more than four lengths in :17.78, again on a
sloppy track. Proudest Effort was the next quickest, winning his heat by a
length in :17.90, while other rounds went to Good Wine by two lengths in
:17.96, Lady Begonia by daylight in :18.13, Cal West by a length in :18.16,
and He Flys Easy by a neck in :18.19. Sixty-five head took part in the
trials.
Chicks Beduino broke on top from the nine hole and held the lead all
the way under a hand ride from Creager. The season's first two-year-old
stakes winner in California is now at Los Alamitos where the Kindergarten,
which is scheduled for June 7, will be the first item on his agenda. He is
also paid up in the Governor's Cup Futurity which will be run on July 4.
Second place in the Bay Meadows Futurity
was worth $57,772 for Smith Miller Livestock's Good Wine. The gelding by
Good Doctor TB out of the Sold Short mare Parr Sale is one of three
finalists trained by James McArthur and qualified by Tami Purcell. A
grandson of the multiple stakes winner Parrfame, Good Wine was purchased by
$11,000 at the PCQHRA Select Yearling Sale.
In third place, Proudest Effort brought
home $28,886 for Frank L. Hart & Co. The colt is by freshman sire Special
Effort out of Winning Copy, a multiple stakes winner by Duplicate Copy. He
was purchased by $55,000 at the Ruidoso Super Select Sale. Proudest
effort is trained by Blane Schvaneveldt and ridden by Kenneth Hart.
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