SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022) – Valiant Miss Priss and Cristian Esqueda powered down the track to earn the win in the Grade 1 $109,877 Q-Racing Video Distaff Challenge Championship at Horseshoe Indianapolis Saturday, Oct. 22. The duo completed the 400-yard dash in :20.137 for their second straight win.
Starting from post four, Valiant Miss Priss broke well and led the field early before pulling away in the center of the track. The four-year-old mare was under a hand ride by Esqueda through the finish line to win by one length. Kiss Me Suzy and Sergio Dominguez closed on the outside to finish second joined by Lynnder16 and Edwin Escobedo for third.
Valiant Miss Priss paid $8.00 for the win. The Valiant Hero mare now has four career wins in eight starts, all taken this season. She pushed her career bankroll to more than $120,000 with the win, her second stakes win this year adding it to her win in the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Distaff Challenge in August. Esqueda has been aboard for all four of her career wins this season.
“Everything went like we had planned,” said Esqueda. “She can really pull 400. I galloped her once before we brought her over from Iowa. She is really good right now. I have a lot of respect for Lynnder 16. I rode her as a two-year-old and I knew she was the one to beat because she is a really nice horse. I feel really blessed and happy to ride this horse (Valiant Miss Priss) tonight.”
Valiant Miss Priss is owned and trained by Stacy Charette-Hill, who was unable to make the trip out to Indiana from her home base in Iowa. The Oklahoma bred mare was bred by Christie and Mikel Donahue and was a $23,000 purchase from the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale in 2019. She was unraced at two and only made two starts last year at three before coming back this season where she is four for six in 2022.
According to an interview with Jason Olmstead with Martha Claussen, on-air handicapper who worked for Horseshoe Indianapolis during the evening, the plan for Lynnder 16 is to come back and race again next year as a seven-year-old. They are going to flush the embryos, and she came back good after that procedure last year and they expect her to do it again. The daughter of Apollitical Jess has 18 career wins and more than $800,000 in earnings as she continues her career.
Photos by Coady Photography
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