Kodiak Kowboy rounds up first winner

Canadian and American champion Kodiak Kowboy recorded his first winner from

his first starter, as Bear Facts landed Friday's

7TH race at Turf Paradise.

Trained by Molly Pearson and ridden by Vince Guerra, the 2-1 third choice

tracked the pace, kicked clear in the stretch, and held on by a head from 2-1

favorite Lazy Daisy May. There was a 6 3/4-length gap back to the third-place

finisher. Bear Facts, who completed the 4 1/2-furlong trial in :52 2/5 on the

fast track, is owned by Bar Diamond Ranch, Robert W. Morgan and Daniel Avena.

Bear Facts was bred by C. Kidder and N. Cole in Kentucky and sold for $25,000

as a Keeneland September yearling. The chestnut filly subsequently RNA'd for

$6,000 at the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Fall Mixed Sale in

October. She is out of the winning Boston Harbor mare I'vegothemusicinme, who is

herself a half-sister to Grade 3-placed multiple stakes heroine Pleasant Music.

All six of her registered foals of racing age have now won.

Kodiak Kowboy was honored with the Sovereign Award as Canada's champion

two-year-old colt of 2007, on the strength of victories in the Saratoga Special,

Bashford Manor and Victoria Stakes as well as placings in the Futurity and

Breeders' Cup Juvenile. At three, the son of Posse annexed the Amsterdam and

Sport Page, missed narrowly in the Derby Trial, and finished third in the

Vosburgh.

As a four-year-old, Kodiak Kowboy garnered an Eclipse Award as champion

sprinter with a trio of Grade 1 titles, spanning six furlongs, seven furlongs

and a mile. The winner of the Carter Handicap early in the 2009 season, he ended

the year on a high with back-to-back scores in the Vosburgh and Cigar Mile

Handicap. He also romped in the Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap and placed in

both the Duncan F. Kenner and Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap.

Kodiak Kowboy, who retired with $1,663,363 in earnings from his 23-11-4-3

line, was produced by the unraced Coronado's Quest mare Kokadrie. His dam is a

half-sister to Grade 1-winning millionaire West by West. Kodiak Kowboy's second

dam, the Cox's Ridge mare West Turn, is in turn a full sister to Grade 1 winner

Little Missouri.

The eight-year-old stallion stands at WinStar Farm near Versailles, Kentucky,

for $6,500, stands and nurses.