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AN ALL-TIME LEADING TRAINER 3rd ALL-TIME Trainer - Stakes Wins 4th ALL-TIME Money Earned - Over $25 Million 17th ALL-TIME Trainer - Wins 2ND - 2009 Trainer Money Earned 2ND - 2009 Trainer Races Won Photo Credits Dustin Orona, Coady Photography, Cheryl Lynn, Stephanie Hanover, Reed Palmer Photography, Ruidoso Downs. Stolis Winner © Jinny Harding
 
World Champion Stolis Winner Takes Step Toward Leading Earnings Record with Bank of America Victory
HOUSTON, TX—JULY 10, 2010—Jerry Windham's world champion Stolis Winner took another step toward the all-time leading money earner's record on Saturday night when he won the $106,290 Bank of America Texas Challenge Championship(G1) at Sam Houston Race Park.
The $48,894 winner's purse pushed his career earnings mark to $2,097,731. Three-time AQHA Racing world champion Refrigerator holds the earnings record of $2,126,309.
 
Saturday's win also earned Stolis Winner an invite to the $350,000 Guaranteed Bank of America Challenge Championship(G1) on November 19th at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. The feature race of the Bank of American Challenge Championship Night also includes an invite for the winner to the $750,000 Champion of Champions(G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course.
Bred in Texas by Windham out of the Runaway Winner mare Veva Jean, Stolis Winner is 12-3-1 in 18 starts. The winner of the All American Futurity(G1) at 2, has also won the Rainbow Futurity(G1), Heritage Place Futurity(G1) and Texas Classic Derby(G1).
 
Heath Taylor saddled the 4-year-old son of Stoli with AQHA Racing champion jockey G.R. Carter, Jr. riding. The bay gelding took command out of the gate for the wire-to-wire win.
“He’s definitely the best I’ve ever ridden,” commented an excited jockey Carter. “He’s fun to ride, always breaks well and has phenomenal finishes.”
 
Stolis Winner is the first All-American Futurity winner to race at Sam Houston Race Park.
“I’ve found that the third race off a layoff is when my horses perform the best,” stated Taylor. “This horse will never be put in a small race; he’s an incredible athlete and it’s truly gratifying to have one like this.”
Xo Kate, also a daughter of Stoli, rallied late to finish second a neck off the winner. The 5-year-old mare owned by Noel Balderas earned $21,258 for the effort. Saddled by Javier Contreras and ridden by Santos Carrizales, XO Kate also finished second in the Bank of America East Challenge Championship at Delta Downs earlier this season.
Bred by Myrna Rheudasil and Burnett Ranches, the gray mare has earned $168,359 with a 7-5-2 record from 28 starts. This season she is 2-3-0 in six starts.
Easy Dashin Sixes who earned an invite to the Bank of America Challenge Championship(G1) by winning the Bank of America East division on May 22nd was 1 ½ lengths back for third.
The Streakin Sixes 5-year-old owned by Jesus Huitron earned $10,629. Also bred by Windham, Easy Dashin Sixes is trained by Erika Huitron and ridden by David Pinon. In 22 starts, the bay gelding is 11-1-3 with earnings of more than $391,000.
Completing the field were Special Headlines, Teton Snowman, Classified Bull, A Stoli Mate, Double Chiseled and Mr La Bubba. Kid Perry was scratched.
Story by StallioneSearch.com. Photos Coady Photography.
 
Winning owner Jerry Windham accepting the Bank of America Texas Challenge Championship trophy.
Sandra Beck / Coady Photography
Jockey G.R. Carter, Jr., does his signature back flip off a grade 1 winner with trainer Heath Taylor.
Sandra Beck / Coady Photography
Stolis Winner picks up another grade 1 victory in the Bank of America Texas Challenge Championship on Saturday evening at Sam Houston Race Park.
Amber Watts / Coady Photography
 
Hearing Officers Recommend Dismissal In Stolis Winner Case By PETE HERRERA ALBUQUERQUE, NM—JULY 22, 2010—Stolis Winner is a lot closer to being reinstated as the winner of the 2008 All American Futurity. A three-member panel of hearing officers has recommended that Stolis Winner's disqualification because of a positive test for caffeine be set aside. The panel also recommends that other disciplinary rulings issued against the horse's trainer, Heath Taylor, be dismissed. The panel's recommendation also means Stolis Winner's owner, Jerry Windham, would get to keep the winner's purse of $1 million. The recommendation by the three-member panel will now go to the State Racing Commission. The Racing Commission can accept or reject the recommendation, but historically, the Commission has gone along with recommendations by hearing officers.
Urine and blood samples taken from Stolis Winner after the All American showed traces of caffeine in his system-a violation under New Mexico's zero tolerance policy for banned substances.
A board of stewards in January 2009 disqualified Stolis Winner and ordered that the purse for the $1.9 million futurity be redistributed. Taylor was suspended for six months and fined $1,500.
The penalties and purse distribution order have been on hold as Taylor appealed the board of stewards' decision. In May, the three-member panel of hearing officers (attorneys Bob McNeill and Robert Collins and former Appeals Court Judge Joe Alarid) heard testimony from Taylor, Windham, chemists, veterinarians and others.
Taylor's attorneys, Billy Blackburn and Cody Kelley, argued that the caffeine found in Stolis Winner was the result of environmental contamination, possibly from food or drink items that were present in the test barn area on the day of the big race. Another possibility, said Blackburn and Kelley, was that the contamination resulted from Stolis Winner's contact with humans before and after the race.
The three hearing officers agreed with that argument.
``There is convincing and substantial evidence of caffeine contamination to which Stolis Winner was exposed that is sufficient to rebut the ... evidence that caffeine was administered to the horse,'' the panel said in its recommendation.
The panel also said Taylor's attorneys had successfully rebutted the state's evidence that a ``prohibited drug,'' chemical or other substance had been given to Stolis Winner prior to the race.
In their decision, the hearing officers noted that the New Mexico Horse Racing Act instructs the Racing Commission to make sure that horse racing in the state is conducted ``with fairness.''
``A finding of a violation in this case in the context of the substantial evidence in the record would violate this legislative mandate and permit an injustice,'' the hearing officers stated.
The case is far from over and legal challenges from the owners of the runner-up horse, Jet Black Patriot, are pending in Texas. But for Taylor and Windham, the recommendation by the three hearing officers triggered a sense of relief, elation and vindication.
``They found there was absolutely no violation whatsoever and there should be no penalty,'' Taylor told SureBet in a telephone interview. ``It's what I believed in my heart and thought from the first day. It took a long time. The frustration and financial devastation has been great, but the system in this instance worked.''
``I don't know how to describe the relief I feel,'' Windham told SureBet from his home in Texas. ``It's something we have been carrying around for almost two years.''
Taylor hopes the recommendation will help Stolis Winner, his connections and the All American Futurity move forward.
``I would hope the Racing Commission would accept their recommendation and restore some justice to the horse, all the connections and the race,'' Taylor said. ``I think it's a very good day for horse racing because it (the disqualification) drew so much negativity. That these people believed there was no violation puts a lot of integrity back into the race and into the horse racing industry.''
Pete Herrera is a former AP sportswriter and now freelance journalist who covered sports and news for 39 years. His credits include four Summer Olympics and coverage of 40 All American Futurities from 1968 to 2008.
Courtesy of www.surebetracingnews.com