Tachas Secret shines in Bob Woodard Memorial at Horseshoe Indianapolis

Tachas Secret and Fernando Morin rallied home to their second straight stakes victory Saturday during the fifth All-Quarter Horse racing program at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The duo added the 16th running of the $85,500 Bob Woodard Memorial to their credentials.

Tachas Secret has been consistent throughout her entire career. She is out of trainer Ricardo Martinez’s standout stallion, Habits Secret, who raced and won several stakes in Indiana before retiring to stud duty at Roger Beam’s Midwest Equine and Veterinary Hospital in Trafalgar, Indiana. He continues to produce stakes winners year after year and Tachas Secret is one of those representatives.

Tachas Secret and Fernando Morin began from post five and had a clear path down the center of the track. Defending Woodard Memorial champion Mr Michel and Edgar Diaz began from post seven and were in tight quarters early on. Tachas Secret got the jump on the field and kept her mind on her business, making it really tough for any of her opponents to come even close.

Midway through the 400-yard dash, Mr Michel found another speed and began closing in but his efforts were not quick enough to overtake Tachas Secret, who was a winner by a neck over Mr Michel. Winner Spirit and Juan Marquez, who drew into the race after an early scratch, closed in on the far outside to finish third.

“This win means a lot to our family,” said Vicki Duke, part of the ownership team of Duke Racing LLC. “This was one of the toughest races she’s been in and there were tough horses in here. We have to give credit to Ricardo (Martinez) and Fernando (Morin). They have done an excellent job with her.”

Tachas Secret paid $6.60 for the win. The four-year-old mare now has three wins in five starts this season and nine wins overall. Her bankroll increased to more than $318,000. The win in the Woodard Memorial Classic was her fifth career stakes win in Indiana.

“This mare (Tachas Secret) has been a sweetheart since she was born,” added Vicki. “She is the sweetest, most loveable horse to be around. Winning this race with her also has extra meaning to our family. We were one of the first families to start racing in the state, and to win the Bob Woodard is an honor. The Woodard family is one of the ones that got Quarter Horse racing going in this state.”

QHRAI Stallion Service Auction Futurity

The fifth all-Quarter Horse Day marked a first for Horseshoe Indianapolis as the first ever Restricted Grade 3 was presented for Indiana racing. On top of that milestone was an unexpected winner as AP Political Patriot surprised everyone, including his connections, with a win in the $212,170 QHRAI Stallion Service Auction (SSA) Futurity Saturday.

AP Political Patriot (photo) made his racing debut in the trials and was a winner to rank fifth on the list of horses advancing to the RG3 final. However, jockey Francisco Quintero opted to ride another entrant in the race, which gave owner-trainer Oscar Preciado the search for a new jockey.

Saul Lopez picked up the ride aboard the homebred gelding, who was bred by the Preciado family. The horse will forever hold a special place in the family photo albums as he provided the first career stakes win for Preciado, who began training in 2019 after graduating from Notre Dame near his home base in Elkhart, Indiana.

“This horse’s mother (Shes a Real Patriot) was the first horse I ever trained and gave me my first training win,” noted Preciado, who was joined in the winner’s circle by his family, including his father, Alberto. “So, she is very special to us. Then she was our first brood mare. We name all our homebreds with ‘AP’ to honor my mother (Araceli) and my father (Alberto) Preciado. It now also represents my daughter, Ariella.”

Starting from post 10 on the far outside, AP Political Patriot showed a little of his inexperience out of the gate and bore out for Lopez, but he quickly got him corrected and into the race. He was still in contention early on the far outside, but it was hard to judge who was in front as the bulk of the field on the inside seemed to be putting their best strides together for the 350-yard dash.

Beachin Famous and Juan Marquez held his own inside joined by Jefris Gold Wagon and Cristian Reyes and Runninagainstdwind and Martin Munoz in the center of the track. The closer the wire came, the clearer it became AP Political Patriot had a big shot to get there first. He was able to conquer his opponents by one-half length in 17.65 seconds to keep his young career in undefeated mode.

Beachin Famous finished second over Runninagainstdwind, who was just a neck ahead of the pair Jefris Gold Wagon and DNA Politicalfighter ridden by Alberto Ceron, who dead heated for fourth.

Betting was spread evenly across the board on several horses, and AP Political Patriot ended up the bettor’s choice, paying $7.20 for the win. He now has more than $134,000 on his card after only two starts.

“We wanted to start him earlier this year, but every time he went to the track, he wanted to go 100 percent,” said Preciado, who has a degree in mechanical engineering and physics and trains horses as a side job. “He had some injury problems and got a little shin sore on us, so we made the decision to kick him out in the field for 90 days and give him some rest. We knew he had a little more after his trial win. The jockey (Francisco Quintero) had a good hold on him when he saw he was going to win. The whip didn’t even come down at all, so we thought he had more to give.”

Although Preciado is new to training, he is not new to horses. Growing up, his family worked with horses through his dad’s involvement. His passion for horses has rubbed off on the younger Preciado.

“My dad started it all,” added Preciado. “We have owned horses since I was in middle school. We would break horses all the time, mainly for pleasure riding, but eventually got involved in racing. After I graduated from college, we decided to give it a try.”

Preciado will head back to his mechanical engineering job after the holiday and will have a few extra photos to hang on his office wall. He currently works for Genesis Products in Goshen, Ind. He designs the inside of delivery trucks, a job he had waiting for him upon his graduation from Notre Dame.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” added Preciado. “I have worked for this company since I graduated. It’s a great company to work for.”

As a marker for the first Restricted Grade 3 event for Quarter Horse racing, jockey statues were added this year outside the winner’s circle to commemorate both the QHRAI SSA Futurity and the Miss Roxie Little Futurity, which also gained RG3 status in 2023 and will be run in October. The black and red silks of the Preciado Stable will be painted on the jockey statue representing the QHRAI SSA Futurity. Not a bad reward to represent the first career stakes winner for trainer Oscar Preciado.

QHRAI Stallion Service Auction Derby 

To say trainer Claudio Barraza has had an exceptional season would be an understatement. The momentum continued for him in the QHRAI Stallion Service Auction (SSA) Derby Saturday when his horses finished one-two in the race.

Tres of Blood (photo, center with red head cover) kept his win streak intact with the win followed by longshot Jess a Flyin Train, who was the ninth horse on the list to qualify for the final.

Tres of Blood began from post four with Barraza’s first call rider Edgar Diaz. The start was a little bumpy coming out of the gate, but it didn’t seem to faze Tres of Blood, who quickly got back on task. Cisco Beach and L.D. “Daniel” Martinez, who were the quickest qualifiers from the trials, broke without incident on the inside and took over the lead early in the 400-yard dash.

As the wire neared so did the bulk of the pack in the center of the track. Four horses, with Tres of Blood in the middle, moved in unison toward the wire. The final stride determined the winner in a four-horse photo with Tres of Blood getting the edge by a nose over Jess a Flyin Train and Erik Esqueda to his outside. Skyline Spirit and Aron Hunt finished another head back in third.

“My horse was standing perfectly in the gates when the other horse (Cleave) became fractious and flipped,” said Diaz. “That was a concern for me because he was standing so good the first time. But when we reloaded, he regained his concentration, and he broke well. He was bumped pretty hard out of the gate, but he recovered quickly.”

“I’m stoked,” said Barraza on finishing one-two in the race. “Having Jess a Flyin Train move up like that to finish second, I’m still shocked, but he deserved to be in there. He ran well in his trial. I think it definitely helped both horses to have competition like that (running together at the end). It definitely made them gut it out to the finish.”

Tres of Blood, a trial winner and listed third on the list of qualifiers by time from the trials, paid $4.00 as the favorite of the field. The three-year-old son of Apollitical Blood is owned by Campos Family Ventures. He is now four for five in 2024 and boosted his career earnings tally over the $200,000 mark in his career.

He was a $72,000 purchase from the Heritage Place Winter Mixed Sale earlier this year by the Campos family, who owns a training center near Connersville, Indiana.

The QHRAI SSA Derby boasted its biggest purse in the history of the race to set the new high at $115,213. The race was held outside the state of Indiana prior to the arrival of pari-mutuel Quarter Horse racing in the state in 1997 at Hoosier Park.

The race was held in Indiana for the first time in 1998 and was moved to Horseshoe Indianapolis when all Quarter Horse racing was transferred to the Shelbyville track in 2013.

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