Double Bar S Ranch's Tac It Like A Man held off Dutch Masters III's Check This Runner by a nose to win the richest running ever of the Grade 1 $450,000 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity Saturday at Los Alamitos.

     Thanks to his last second heroics, Tac It Like A Man avoided sharing another futurity with a Dutch Masters III-owned horse. Back on July 29, the First Down Dash colt had to split the spoils with Check This Runner's stablemate, Checknbac, after finishing in a deadheat for first in the Governor's Cup Futurity. This time around it was the 21-1 longshot Check This Runner who pushed Tac It Like A Man to the limit. Check This Runner was sixth at the start before making his big late move to nearly upset the 2-1 second choice.

        Checknbac, the 4-5 favorite here, broke out from the outside post nine and had to settle for third place. The Breeders Futurity was a huge night for Jaime Gomez, who saddled the top three finishers in this race.

      "That was all heart from Tac It Like A Man," Gomez said. "He got bumped but he came back hard to get the win."

     Ridden by Sam Thompson, Tac It Like A Man earned $184,800 to take his career earnings to $389,550. Bred by the owners, Tac It Like A Man is currently the fifth richest Quarter Horse in the country this year. Other California-based horses among the nation's top five leading earners are: No Secrets Here, who is the country's top earner with $1,140,265, and fourth leading earner FDD Dynasty, who has bankrolled $468,690. 

       "That bump was pretty significant," said Thompson, referring to Tac It Like A Man and Coronas Rouge impromptu meeting in the middle of the race. "I had my momentum stopped. Fortunately we had enough time to recover. Tac It Like A Man is so big that it takes him a little bit to get going. He can leave the gate but if he gets going and then gets bumped hard, it can be tough for him to get going again." 

       Dawn and Rhonda List of Double Bar S Ranch had to tough time relaxing for this race tonight.

      "I was sick thinking about this race when I was getting ready at home because I knew that we were in tough," Dawn said. "The fun part of this is that now Dr. James Streelman (of Dutch Masters III) has to buy the cocktails. It was part of a little bet we made before the race."

      "For a second I didn't think that we had won the race," Rhonda added. "I had my doubt there."

       "This is a big thrill for us because a lot of the members of our great team are here tonight," Dawn added. "Jerry Young, our ranch manager, Steve Charles, who breaks our horses, and Deborah Turnbull, who foals our babies, are all here tonight."

        Dawn List also revealed an interesting tidbit about the future of Tac It Like A Man.

       "We plan to stand Tac It Like A Man after his racing career is over and we've already booked his first mare," she continued. "It's going to be Checknbac. We just gave Dr. Streelman a free breeding to Tac It Like A Man for her."

         Dr. Streelman has done this type of a breeding arrangement before.

        "One night I was here at the track but I was on call," he said. "I received a call that one of my patients was at St. Jude Medical Center. It was the late Bob Etchandy, who owned Corona Chick, and had just suffered a stroke. I saw him every day for 75 days in a row and eventually he recovered to the point that we could talk.

         "At the time Corona Chick was beating up our stallion Holland Ease in all the big races at Los Alamitos. We agreed to breed the two of them together and the result was Corona Cartel, who went to win million dollar races and is now one of the top stallions in the sport. Now here we go again with a couple of horses that have faced each other a couple of times in Tac It Like A Man and Checknbac. Maybe we can get lucky again with their baby."

         Check This Runner earned $74,800 for running second while Checknbac picked up a check for $52,800 for running third. Ed Allred's Future Father, who actually had the lead during the first 130 yards, finished fourth and earned $30,800. Choosy, Corona Deluxe, Coronas Rouge, Ladies Boots and Corona Couture completed the field. Sabrinas Eyes was scratched out of the race.

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