LARC NEWS Posted: 9/30/2020 9:50:55 AM

Q-RACING BLOG – BOB’S LEGACY

          By Ty Wyant - Courtesy of AQHA’s Q-Racing Blog

          The racing legacy started by Bob Rosenthal in the late 1970s continues to grow through his wife, Connie, a vibrant 83 years old. Bob died in 2018 due to cancer.               

            Rosenthal Ranch LLC was named the 2019 champion owner after the ranch’s stable earned more than $1 million last year while being conditioned by 2019 champion trainer Chris O’Dell. Last year’s champion breeder, Dr. Steve Burns, is also connected, since he owns Remember Me Rose, the dam of top Rosenthal runners Powerful Favorite and Runforyourlife. Burns Ranch stands Favorite Cartel, the sire of Powerful Favorite and Runforyourlife.                     

          Rosenthal Ranch also bought the yearling Bomb Cyclone at the 2020 Ruidoso Select Quarter Horse Sale for $215,000 and was an underbidder on 2020 $1 million Ruidoso Futurity (G1) winner Cyber Monday at the 2019 Ruidoso Select Sale. Each of those horses are also by Favorite Cartel and out of Remember Me Rose.                     

          Remember Me Rose’s three Grade 1 winners – Powerful Favorite, Runforyourlife and Cyber Monday – earned the mare the AQHA Dam of Distinction Award in June. This success from the small Rosenthal operation dates to Bob’s childhood when his parents were avid racetrack attendees. They took Bob to the track and he loved it. Bob and Connie then got into the racehorse business with a yearling purchase at the PCQHRA Sale (now the Los Alamitos Equine Sale) in the late 1970s. “It has been a love,” Connie said. “We bought our first ranch 30 years ago in Hemet.”                                          

          A dam for a reservoir was being built near the ranch and they decided to move to their current 40-acre location in Winchester, California, in 1999. “We bred a lot of mares to good horses,” Connie said.                                                                                       

         Then they found success by purchasing horses. In 2017, Powerful Favorite was the first horse Connie and Bob bought at auction since their initial horse. They gave $90,000 for him at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale when Connie raised her hand and was overjoyed to have bid on and bought a horse. Early in his 2-year-old season, Powerful Favorite qualified for the $1,020,000 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity and then won the $375,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity (RG2). Those races were run before the Ruidoso Select Sale. Connie stayed with the same cross with the $100,000 purchase on Runforyourlife at the Ruidoso sale. Powerful Favorite has earned $830,222 and Runforyourlife has added $600,703. These earnings are bankrolling the operation. Powerful Favorite and Runforyourlife continue to lead the four-horse Rosenthal Ranch racing stable this year.                                                                                     

       After three derby wins last year, Powerful Favorite was a close third in the $159,550 Brad McKinzie Winter Championship as the odds-on favorite and comes off a dominating 1¼-length win in the $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap.                                         

        “(Jockey) Eduardo (Nicasio) told me after the Go Man Go that he is the fastest horse in the country,” Connie said. 

        The Go Man Go victory gives Powerful Favorite a berth in the $600,000 Champion of Champions (G1), if a berth becomes available. That happens when a horse earns a provisional invitation and the horse’s connections decline the berth or if a qualified horse has earned multiple berths.                       

        “Our ultimate goal is the Champion of Champions,” Connie said.                              

          Runforyourlife is also in top form. The gelding is the fastest qualifier to the $140,000 PCQHRA Breeders’ Derby after winning his trial by three quarters of a length with a :19.626 time for 400 yards on September 12. The finals will be held on October 2. “I was impressed with the trial and he came out of the trial perfect,” Connie said.              

         Last year, Runforyourlife won the $1,038,850 Golden State Million Futurity (G1) and was second in the $360,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity (RG2). “It’s the horses and I’ve been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time,” Connie said.              

         All of this success is a tribute to Bob. “I’m so grateful to Bob for leaving me Powerful Favorite,” Connie said. “The money he earned led to the other horses. This was a special thing.”

-30-


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