By Jonathan Horowitz May 25, 2014 Aurora, CO
Etres Chic picked an ideal time to win her first race at Arapahoe Park in the first Wathba Stud Farm Cup for Arabians held at the Aurora, Colorado racecourse. Jockey Kelsi Purcell gave the 5-year-old bay mare owned by Caraway Teutsch and trained by Mark Kulow a calculated ride to get up in the final strides of the 6-furlong race.
The daughter of sire Djet Set De Falgas out of dam Peptons Fawor defeated Doc Holidday by a half-length in a final time of 1:21.75. Djets Tigress, who set the early pace, was a further head back in third place.
“It was a close race, and she was able to get the lead just in time when it counted,” Purcell said.
On the same day that Arapahoe Park marked 30 years to the day that it opened on May 25, 1984, the racetrack hosted its first race as part of the HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival. The Wathba Stud Farm Cup, which is one of the series in the racing festival, takes place in nine countries around the world. Arapahoe Park will host another race in the series on July 4 and then on August 10.
“Having the series at Arapahoe Park is a great endorsement of the quality of the Arabian racing we have here in Colorado,” Purcell said. “There have been a lot of good Arabians here over the years, and it’s nice to see that the quality of Arabian racing continues to grow.”
The victory was Etres Chic’s first since her debut score at Sam Houston on February 10, 2013, and her first in five starts at Arapahoe Park. She now has two wins in 16 lifetime races.
Winner Etres Chic – Wathba Stud Farm Cup
Photo by Coady Photography
