CATTAIL COVE IS GREAT AT AGE 8, WINS SPENCER CHILDERS
At the age of 8, Link Newcomb’s Cattail Cove earned his eight career stakes win, but first in a Grade 1 stakes race following his decisive ½ length victory in the running of the Restricted Grade 1 $75,000 Spencer Childers Championship Handicap here on Saturday. Cattail Cove’s 13th and biggest win came in his 56th career start and he might just be getting better with age.
Bred by Steve Burns, the gelding by Favorite Cartel has won four of his five starts in 2025 and five out of his last six outings. He’s also won four stakes races during that span including the Grade 3 First Down Dash Handicap in December and the Grade 3 Kaweah Bar Handicap on April 26. The seemingly ageless runner out of the Separatist mare Katie Katella has finished in the money in 37 career starts and he’s now raced in either a stakes or a stakes trial in 52 of his 56 career starts. Ridden by Martin Arriaga for trainer Juan Aleman, who has cared for him from the start, Cattail Cove earned $41,250 for this win to take his career bakroll to $820,295. Racing from post four as the 1-5 favorite, Cattail Cove covered the 400 yards in :19.919.
“He’s the longest horse I’ve ever had in my barn,” Aleman said. “I’ve had him since he was two. We broke him, we brought him along, he’s a special horse for the barn. I’m so thankful to Link for giving me the opportunity to train a horse like this. The horse has so much heart. He had to run a big race tonight and he did. He’s lost a step at the start with age but once he gets rolling and if they’re not too far away from him, he seems to know where the finish line is and get there before the other horses do. He’s an amazing animal to see him running at the level that he’s running at his age. He’s a wonder and a miracle that he’s still doing this. We’re happy to have him and he’ll let us know when it’s time to retire him. We’ll see how he pulls up and maybe the Go Man Go (at the end of August) is next.”
Ed Allred’s Boardwalk finished second with Ricardo Ramirez up for the Scott Willoughby trainee. The Favorite Cartel gelding earned $16,875. His stablemate Listen Now earned $9,375 for running third with Jose Nicasio up. Special Two Corona and Nationalist completed the field. London Toby, the winner of this race each of the past two years, was scratched as a precaution to a skin allergy.
MARKET ANALYST’S STOCK IS HIGH AFTER MATRON WIN
Market Analyst’s arrow is pointing straight up as she profited from a clean journey and a strong finish to win the $50,000 Rolling A Ranch Matron Stake for fillies and mares on here on Saturday night.
Owned and bred by Steve Burns and trained by Mike Casselman, Market Analyst won the 350-yard race by a head while covering the distance in :17.827. Ridden by Cruz Mendez, who has won 1,113 Quarter Horse races and 98 Quarter Horse stakes wins, Market Analyst was picking up her fifth win in 15 career starts. Sired by Favorite Cartel and out of the fine broodmare Bartiromo, the 4-year-old Market Analyst earned $27,500 to take her career earnings to $78,914.
For Burns, a three-time AQHA Breeder of the Year, it’s always important to have one of his talented racing mares become a stakes winner. Market Analyst now has that distinction which means a successful career in the breeding shed is in her future.
“She’s been a top qualifier to a derby here last year but wasn’t able to run back,” Burns recalled. “It’s great to finally get a stakes win. Her mother is a Walk Thru Fire mare out of Babe On The Fly, who next to Remember Me Rose has been our best producing mare. It’s good to see Market Analyst have this success.”
Market Analyst is a half-sister to the graded stakes placed Mornings With Maria, a winner of $105,000, and a full sister to Wire Fraud, who won his racing debut and ran third in his Ed Burke Million Futurity trial in his only other start.
In The Mode, who was ridden by Gabriel Lara for trainer Scott Willoughby, earned $11,250 for running second. Howard Nichols’ Heather Denise earned $6,250 for running third with Ecstatik, Temple Court and Phoebes Baby Girl rounding out the field.
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