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Halonator Wins Belle Roberts Stakes - 8 in a Row | |
10/2/2005
She ran for a $4,000 tag in a non-winners of two lifetime event on April 30....look at her now. Halonator is clearly the best in the $50,000 Belle Roberts Stakes
AUBURN, WA – If Halonator's performance in the Belle Roberts' Stakes on WA Cup III at Emerald Downs doesn't quash the concerns and put an end to skeptic's doubts at this point, then nothing can.
She was awesome. Just awesome.
For seven consecutive races she has climbed the ladder within the claiming ranks, having to prove herself again and again.
She was once running for a tag of $4,000. Now, she's a stakes winner.
Simply awesome.
But before her Belle Roberts victory on Sunday, many questioned how well she'd fair versus stakes company. Even though she's won seven this season, and even more remarkably did it in succession, she still didn't earn the horseplayer's respect at the windows. She went off as the second choice.
What more did she have to do?
Breaking very well from the gate, Halonator, trained by Dan Markle, set a pressured pace racing 2-wide alongside Carrie's A Jewel.
“It bothered me a little,” said rider Leslie Mawing of the pressured pace. “I wasn't sure she was going to take to the mud that well. She's definitely a great horse. All the credit goes to her.”
Setting fractions of 22 4/5 and 46 2/5 seconds, Halonator shook loose of her foe at the half-mile mark of the 1-mile event, opening clear by 2 ½ lengths.
“Dan [Markle] told me to get her out and keep her comfortable and she'd run all day,” Mawing said. “That's exactly what she did.”
She maintained that advantage through the quarter pole and coasted home under wraps. They hit the wire in 1:43 2/5, 1 ½-lengths better than Carrie's A Jewel.
“I thought they were going pretty quick,” said Markle. “It was pretty scary, but she kept running. I have to give her a lot of credit.”
Halonator, a 4-year-old daughter of Delineator, lives true to the reputation of many Deliniator progeny as she is, well, something of a handful to deal with off the track.
“She's really been a pleasure to work with,” Markle said tongue in cheek. “Sue had asked me once to do her a favor and win a stake, so thanks to Halonator we got the job done.”
Owned by Sue and Tim Spooner, it is their first stakes win of the meet for one of Emerald Downs' top owners.
“It was unbelievable,” said Sue Spooner. “She did great. She has been doing unreal. When I saw her bumping around that first turn I knew all it was going to do was tick her off and she would try harder.
“Dan is so deserving of this, he has put so much time into this filly.”
Halonator has silenced all skeptics … and deservedly so.
Halonator completed the test in 1:43 2/5 and returned $7.80, $4.20 and $2.60.
Carrie's a Jewel paid $5.40 and $3.20 with La Belle Fleur finishing third at $2.40.
Front row from left-right is trainer Dan Markle, rider Leslie Mawing, owners Tim and Sue Spooner and Honorary Stwards Dr. Charles Barth and his wife, Barbara.
