On November 28, trainer Ted H. West claimed a filly named Homemade Brew at Hollywood Park for $32,000 for his mother, Mary Ellen, and Juan Quinones.
On Sunday, West will try to give his mother her richest Mother's Day gift when he sends out Homemade Brew in the $100,000-added Railbird Stakes, a Grade III test for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs.
West, 34-year-old son of veteran horseman Ted West, said his mother has brought the family good luck at the track before. "Before she met dad, my mother had never been to the races," said Ted H. Friday from his Santa Anita base. "On their first date, they went to the track and a horse my father saddled won."
West hopes for good luck in the Railbird for a second consecutive year after sending out Ashley's Kitty to a 17-to-1 upset victory last year. No trainer has won the race twice in a row in its 45-year history.
"Both fillies came into the race the same way," said West. "Ashley's Kitty had won twice, once in a ($85,000-$100,000) claiming race and once in an allowance race before her first stakes win in the Railbird, a race that gave Joe Talamo his first graded stakes win."
This time West will try with another former Eclipse Award-winning apprentice, Tyler Baze, who rides Homemade Brew for the first time and replaces his cousin, Michael Baze, who took another call on P.S.U. Grad.
Like Ashley's Kitty, Homemade Brew broke her maiden in a ($75,000) claiming race and won an allowance race, at six furlongs here April 25, in quest of her first stakes victory.
"Tyler worked her for the first time and loved her," said West of a five-furlong drill in 1:00 Tuesday at Santa Anita. "I've got a filly on the improve, and I've got to be happy with a horse in that zone."
Homemade Brew, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Milwaukee Brew, has only one bad line on her record, a sixth-place finish by 27 lengths when she was eased in the stretch in a six-furlong allowance race at Santa Anita Feb. 29.
"Michael (Baze) said he felt something wrong behind and pulled her up to be on the safe side," explained West. "We tested her, and she came back 100 per cent. In hindsight, she might have just hit a bad spot on the track. It was a definite throw-out race."
Ashley's Kitty rallied from well off the pace to win the Railbird by a nose last year. "It looked like a real hot pace last year, and I asked Talamo to take her back farther than usual," said West. "I expect Homemade Brew to be a little closer to the pace this year."
West said Ashley's Kitty is on the comeback trail after popping a splint in her last start in the La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita Dec. 29. The Oak West Farm filly is nominated to the $75,000-added Desert Stormer Handicap here May 17 for a possible return.
West shoots for his second stakes victory of the meet with a successful claim. He won the $150,000 Tiznow Stakes on April 27 with Stella Mark, a 4-year-old gelding he claimed in January for $50,000 for Jeffrey Sengara.
DIXIE CHATTER WORKS FOR RETURN IN BARRERA
Dixie Chatter worked a sharp seven furlongs at Santa Anita Friday and earned the green light from trainer Richard Mandella for his season bow in the $100,000-added Lazaro Barrera Memorial Stakes for 3-year-olds here May 18. The Grade III test is at seven furlongs.
"He worked in 1:25 and three with (jockey Richard) Migliore," said the Hall of Fame trainer enthusiastically. "He couldn't look any better."
Dixie Chatter was considered the top 2-year-old colt in the West and one of the best in the nation after capturing the Grade I Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita in September.
He was flown to Monmouth Park for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in October but ran a temperature and was scratched from the race. "A few weeks after he came home from the Breeders' Cup, he came up with a sore hind ankle," explained Mandella. "We gave him another month off, brought him back slow and he came back great."
Dixie Chatter, a homebred owned by Herman Sarkowsky, is a son of Dixie Union, who finished second in the 2000 Lazaro Barrera behind Caller One before winning the $1-million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth.
Dixie Chatter is expected to face a lineup that could include Hollywood Juvenile Championship winner and Norfolk runner-up Salute the Sarge, Afleet Ruler, Canyon Drive, Sea of Pleasure, Two Step Salsa and Wind's Legacy.
Mandella will be busy on the 3-year-old stakes front here next weekend. He also plans to start Tiz West, winner of the La Puente Stakes in his last start at Santa Anita, in the $100,000-added Will Rogers Stakes May 17. Victor Espinoza has the call back in the Grade III test at one mile on turf. Other probable starters include Indian Sun (Richard Migliore) and Robscarvic (Joel Rosario).
THOR'S ECHO NEARS RETURN
Thor's Echo, Eclipse Award-winning sprinter in 2006, is nearing his first start in more than one year.
"He's doing fantastic," said trainer Doug O'Neill Friday. "I'm looking for a classified allowance in the next book." Thor's Echo worked five furlongs in 59 seconds here Monday.
Thor's Echo, a 6-year-old California-bred gelding by Swiss Yodeler, climaxed his championship season with Grade I victories in the Breeders' Cup Sprint and Frank DeFrancis Memorial Dash.
Thor's Echo was purchased that winter by Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed al Maktoum of Dubai and transferred to trainer Satish Seemar for a two-race campaign in Dubai. After sixth-place finishes in the Mahab al Shimaal and Dubai Golden Shaheen Stakes in March, 2007, Thor's Echo was returned here last summer to O'Neill, his previous trainer.
"He had a hind ankle injury after he came back," explained O'Neill of the long layoff. "But now he's doing great."
Thor's Echo has recorded five firsts, four seconds and five thirds in 20 starts and earned $2,416,990.
CURRIN NAMES GONE WITH THE WIND
Owner-breeder-trainer Bill Currin explained Friday how he named Call Me Rhett, who will make his debut in the 10th race Saturday, a mile test on turf for 3-year-old California-bred maidens. The colt is a full brother to multiple stakes-winning mare Memorette.
"Three years ago (wife) Betty and I moved into a penthouse in West Hollywood where Clark Gable once lived," said Currin, motivated to name homebreds after characters in Gable films. "Call Me Rhett is a gorgeous colt, but you don't know until they run once. I've also got a 2-year-old full sister named Where's Scarlett." (Rhett Butler, played by Gable, and Scarlett O'Hara were the two main characters in the film classic 'Gone With The Wind.')
Memorette, Call Me Rhett and Where's Scarlett are all by Memo out of the Shahrastani mare Forever Fondre.
Currin said Memorette, retired last year with earnings of about $900,000, is in foal to Empire Maker.
INTANGAROO CONSIDERS CASHCALL MILE
Trainer Gary Sherlock and owner Tom Grether were still on cloud nine after a victory by Intangaroo in the Grade I Humana Distaff Handicap Saturday at Churchill Downs. Grether and Sherlock said the victory validated the filly's upset triumph in the Grade I Santa Monica Handicap at Santa Anita, also under Alonso Quinonez.
"The stage was so much greater at Churchill Downs," said Grether. "I looked around and said, 'I'm just glad I'm here.'"
Sherlock added, "She won on a speed-favoring track and was carrying a lot more weight than she did in the Santa Monica. This sets her apart that she's a real good filly."
Sherlock said Intangaroo, who returned here Monday, may test turf in the $750,000 CashCall Mile July 5 or return at her proven seven furlongs in the $150,000 A Gleam Handicap June 28.
