My Miss Aurelia tops Houston Ladies Classic nominees

Sam Houston Race Park has received exceptional interest from some of the top

racing leaders in the country for its newly created $400,000 Houston Ladies

Classic on January 26.

Twenty fillies and mares were nominated for the 1 1/16-mile Houston Ladies.

The majority of nominees are graded stakes winners with collective earnings of

$8.5 million.

My Miss Aurelia, the champion two-year-old filly of 2011, leads the list of

nominees. Owned by Stonestreet Stable and George Bolton, the daughter of Smart

Strike has won six of her eight career starts, earning $2.4 million to date.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, My Miss Aurelia made her debut at Saratoga on July

22, 2011. She reeled off an impressive streak of six in a row, including three

Grade 1 stakes before finishing second in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Ladies

Classic last November at Santa Anita.

Asmussen has an esteemed legacy at Sam Houston, winning five training titles

as well as three leading owner honors. He has also nominated Glinda the Good, a

Stonestreet Stable homebred, who captured the $100,000 Instant Racing at Oaklawn

Park last April.

Book Review, bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West, is another top-caliber

nominee for the Houston Ladies. She scored an impressive victory on December 26

at Santa Anita in the Grade 1 La Brea, where she defeated My Miss Aurelia. The

daughter of Giant's Causeway was making her first start for Hall of Fame

conditioner Bob Baffert in the seven-furlong La Brea. Book Review has a career

record of five wins from 10 starts and earnings of $594,955; the La Brea victory

was her first graded stakes victory. The January 26 race date would mark

Baffert's first trip to Sam Houston Race Park.

Trainer Larry Jones has nominated Joyful Victory, an Ontario-bred daughter of

Tapit owned by Fox Hill Farms. She won the Grade 3 Honeybee and Grade 2 Fantasy

at Oaklawn Park before running fourth in the 2011 Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Her

four-year-old campaign was highly respectable with second and third-place

finishes in five graded stakes.

Summer Applause, who made her last start in the 2012 Kentucky Oaks, is on the

comeback trail for conditioner Bret Calhoun. He has targeted the Houston Ladies

for the well-bred daughter of Harlan's Holiday.

Potential New York shippers include Dance Card, who has won her last four

starts for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, and My Wandy's Girl, who won 13 races in

Puerto Rico before joining Michael Hushion's barn at Aqueduct. Bill Mott,

another Hall of Fame trainer, has nominated Arena Elvira who was a comeback

winner in the $75,000 Ladies Handicap run on January 1 at Aqueduct. Owned by

Carolyn Wilson, the Ghostzapper mare won the 2011 Grade 2 Falls City Handicap at

Churchill Downs and is closing in on the half-million earnings mark.

She's All In has earned $766,605 for trainer Donnie Von Hemel. The

six-year-old mare, owned and bred by Oklahoman Robert Zoellner, has stamped her

name in the Remington Park history books, winning nine races there including the

last three runnings of the Oklahoma Classics Distaff.

The January 26 card will also include three additional stakes: the Grade 3,

$200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup, the $75,000 Champion Energy Services, and

the $50,000 Allen's Landing.

"We are extremely gratified that so many prominent horsemen have taken notice

of the Houston Ladies Classic," said Eric Johnston, Sam Houston Race Park's

vice-president of racing. "This promises to be a highly competitive and

entertaining race and we also look forward to showcasing some of the nation's

top turf specialists in the Grade 3 Connally Turf Cup."

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