Peppers Pride Makes History
Horses such as Citation (Triple Crown winner in 1948), Mister Frisky, Hallowed Dreams and Cigar stand out in North American horse racing history. Not only for their individual achievements during their horse racing careers, but for the fact that all four of these horses won sixteen racing events consecutively. Remaining unbeaten for such a long period of time is a great achievement, and many horse owners can only dream of joining these legendary horses in the history books. But on Saturday, 4 October 2008, a five year old filly wrote her own chapter in the racing history of North America, by securing her seventeenth consecutive career victory.
The $35 000 Optional Claimer was hosted by Zia Park Racecourse and is run over a distance of six furlongs. The Desert God filly stepped onto the racecourse for the first time in five months on Saturday, after previous attempts to race did not work out. Peppers Pride was training to run in the Lincoln Handicap at Ruidoso Downs in July, but due to heavy rains the race was cancelled. Trainer, Joel Marr, then directed their attention to the new date set for the Lincoln Handicap in August, but withdrew her from the race because of sloppy track conditions.
But on Saturday, at Zia Park Racecourse, the weather conditions were perfect and sunny, as Peppers Pride and her connections prepared for the race of their lives. Peppers Pride and her jockey, Carlos Madeira, broke well from the starting gates and settled down quite quickly. She patiently waited behind the race leaders, watching them battle for lead position. In the final stretch, she made her move and pulled away from the rest of the contender field to make her way to the wire and a decisive win.
Bred and owned by Joe Allen, everyone in the winners’ circle with Peppers Pride was beaming. Critics of her record state that no-one will ever know her true potential, as she has never been raced out side of New Mexico, but as the controversy rages, fans and those connected to Peppers Pride, celebrated her seventeenth victory. It remains an achievement no-one can take away from this gutsy filly. All eyes are guaranteed to be on Peppers Pride on the 9th of November 2008, as she is scheduled to race in the New Mexico Cup Filly and Mare Championship, and everyone will be holding their breath in anticipation that she might just win number eighteen with as much confidence and brilliance as they saw on Saturday.
