1st Races in the Series '07 Series - Los Alamitos Race Course
Drinkers of the Wind Derby
& Daughters of the Desert Oaks

Results 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, JANUARY 27, 2007 CONTACT LOS ALAMITOS PUBLICITY 714-820-2690
GIMME A BREAK WINS THE DRINKERS OF THE WIND DERBY LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA. Six months after being involved in a freak accident that left his racing career in limbo, the Virginia-bred colt Gimme A Break won one of the most important Arabian races in the world - the $75,000 Drinkers of the Wind Derby - Saturday at Los Alamitos. It was summer of 2006 and few connected with the Gimme A Break gave him much of a chance to ever run again. The gray colt had just suffered multiple injuries from a fall caused after he ran off before a prep race to the Firecracker Futurity at Delaware in mid-June. "He was wearing blinkers for the first time and the track was wet after some heavy rain," said trainer Lynn Ashby. "The horses had not been on the track in a couple of days so they were all feeling extra sharp. This horse jumped out when he stepped on the wet track and he was the fifth of nine horses that ran off that day. When he went to go to the pony, he just took off. My barn at Delaware Park is way at the back, probably a half-mile to ¾ miles from the racetrack. That's where he was going. He was going on the horse path and then ran across the pavement. That's when he fell. He left his hide there and he also broke a bone in his hip.
	"He's not an excitable horse," Ashby added. "It was just one of those things." It was one of those things often referred to as part of the highs and lows of the sport. While that was a low, Gimme A Break's outstanding victory in the Drinkers at 6 furlongs, with jockey Clyde Martin aboard, was certainly a high for owners Alan Kirshner and wife Deborah Mihaloff.
"What did we learn from this?" Mihaloff said. "We learned patience. We gave Gimme A Break two and a half months off so that he could heal properly. We did what we were supposed to do. We didn't know if he would ever run again - and maybe not live again. These horses give everything to us. We also have to give back." Gimme A Break's injury prevented his owners from making him eligible to the Arabian Triple Crown series, of which the Drinkers of the Wind serves as the opening leg. "We didn't nominate him to the Triple Crown because of his injury," Mihaloff added.
And the son of the Darley Award winner Patriot Missle nearly missed being nominated to the Drinkers as well. "My husband has been all for supporting Arabian racing in Delaware and his focus and concentration is to improve the racing there," Mihaloff continued. "So when it came to coming out here, he was against it. (Lynn and I) had to talk him into it. He was in tough; he was going against two Tauruses. The nomination payment to the Drinkers was due that night and Lynn had to run to the post office so that the check could be postmarked on the due date." "I just wrote his name on the check and sent it," Ashby said. "It was a last second thing just to get him nominated to this race."
	Ashby was enjoying her third win in the Drinkers of the Wind. She also saddled the winners of the 1998 running with Dreams of Valor and the inaugural 1992 running with Calin De Louve. She also became the first trainer other than Phil Saxer to win this race since 2000. Ashby has now won a combined six Drinkers and Daughters of the Desert Oaks (she won that race with Kirshner and Mihaloff's Tu For All in 2001 and with Royal Atheena in 1998). Saxer is the only other trainer with six combined wins in this series. "I had the lead on Phil for a long time until he got in such a wonderful run with those boys in this race," Ashby said. "I can't wait for both of us to come back next year to battle it out for number seven."
Saxer did not participate in either race this season. Bred by Eunice and Thomas Luckett of Louisville, Kentucky, Gimme A Break is the first foal to race out of the Wiking broodmare TC Break Dancer. She is from the family of outstanding Arabian horses bred by the Lucketts, which include 1993 Drinkers of the Wind winner Tomanchie, 1999 Daughters of the Desert winner TC Kentucky Blue, six-time Los Alamitos stakes winner TC Tomtyr and Los Alamitos stakes winner TC Tomahawk. "What great, great breeders they are," Mihaloff said. "Mr. Luckett has been ill. Hopefully he was able to see this race. If he did, I'm sure he's so happy and proud. We feel so fortunate to be part of this horse. We bought him as a weanling when he was just three months old. Wiking had been dead about three months when we bought him. He's line bred to Wiking, as Patriot Missle and TC Break Dancer were both sired by Wiking."
	A heavy favorite in this race, Gimme A Break returned $2.80 for the win. The winner of the Grade 1 Arabian Cup Juvenile for colts and geldings, Gimme A Break earned $31,500 for the win to take his career earnings to $68,634. Covering the 6 furlongs in 1:19 flat – tying him for the third fastest time ever in this race - Gimme A Break also improved his record to five wins from nine starts.
"He went out a little bit around the final turn," Ashby said. "That turn can carry you out. When he found his right lead he exploded. He was good the rest of the way. I think he had to work twice as hard because he broke the outside post eight. Who knows what he would have done with an inside post position." Anne Seymour"s Sey Spottsproof finished 1-½ lengths behind Gimme A Break to finish second. Ridden by Billy Hollick for trainer Maureen Stillwell, Sey Spottsproof set the pace for most of the race at odds of 5-1. The Florida-bred son of Nf Proof earned $12,750 for running second. The chestnut gelding also finished second to Gimme A Break in the Arabian Cup Juvenile on October 15. Surffdancer, SE Bunker Buster, NC Casey Jones, Ces Bon, Screaming Eagle, Bush Hog, Kongtiki and Ofrank completed the field. BARDIN'S DANDY WINS $75,000 DAUGHTERS OF THE DESERT LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA. "She needed the race." That's what most people said after watching Shes A Dandy finish third to winning machine Surreal CS in the trial to the Grade 1 $75,000 Daughters of the Desert Oaks on January 12. The race paid off for the Florida-bred and owner, breeder and trainer Arnold Bardin, as Shes A Dandy outdueled Mark Powell's Surreal CS down the stretch to win the prestigious Daughters of the Desert by 1-¼ lengths Saturday at Los Alamitos. The Daughters was a two-horse race most of the way with Surreal CS opening up by daylight in the backside with Shes A Dandy cleverly sitting behind the pacesetter. With Ricky Knott aboard Surreal CS maintained her advantage as they approached the final turn but by then it was evident that jockey Joy Scott was ready to let the gray filly by Burning Sand loose.
	"I saw Surreal CS on the lead, which is what I wanted to see," said Scott, who first won the Daughters in 2000 with Bellaa. "(Ricky) had to use Surreal CS to take the lead after breaking from the eight-hole. I didn't want the lead because I didn't want Surreal CS sneaking up on me. I wanted to sneak up on her." Shes A Dandy, who earned $31,500 for the win, was making only her second start since fracturing a bone in her left ankle.
"When she ran in the trials she was coming off just a couple of works, plus she was returning from an injury," Scott added. "Arnold did a great job making sure that he didn't push her too hard for this comeback." "She's the best filly I've ever had," Bardin explained. "She usually acts like a puppy but tonight she was a little irritable. She was acting different than usual." But in the end, it was a case of mission accomplished for Bardin and Shes A Dandy. "She'll now go to Texas for the Yellow Rose and then to Florida. Then she'll go to Delaware," he said. The 60-year-old Bardin, who will celebrate his birthday on January 29, resides in the Sunshine State.
"I owned her mother (Shesadahl) - I bought her from Bill Waldron - but she died last summer," he said. "I did get four nice babies out of her. One day last summer, she just laid down and died." With Shes A Dandy set to carry on the legacy of her dam, Bardin already has a pretty good idea on how he will spend his winnings from this race.
	I have 12 broodmares back home - 18 horses in you count the babies. This money will buy a lot of hay for then," he said. "Shes A Dandy just gave me a pretty good birthday present." Bardin has won other big races in the past. He enjoyed Sam Tiki Special's victory in a $175,000 race in the UAE and now he's looking forward to campaigning a filly by the name of Hottie. Surreal CS, who was saddled by Jerry Partin, earned $12,750 for running second. The Okba filly out of Scarlet CS won her first three starts rather easily prior to facing Shes A Dandy in this race.
"We knew Shes A Dandy was going to be tough so we just said let's go to the lead with her," Knott said. "Shes A Dandy drifted in for four or five strides late in the race and that forced me to check my horse. It didn't cost me the race but that's what happened." Lely Roterra finished third and was followed across the wire by Lulu Gamboo, Gizmoson Fire, Super Sonnic, Dreamm Diva, Vibvilcca, Even Proudder and RL Sugar And Spice.