ARCADIA, Calif. (Apr. 26, 2014) – Maiden winner Awesome Return burst out of the pack turning for home and won Saturday’s $250,000 Snow Chief Stakes for Golden State Series eligible 3-year-olds on the Gold Rush card at Santa Anita.
Awesome Return is by Decarchy, out of the Mr. Broad Blade mare Awesome Broad, was bred by owner Richard Kritzki, is trained by Mike Puype and was ridden by Joe Talamo. He has two wins in six starts and earnings of $211,108.
“I’ve done a lot of good with the Decarchys and all my Cal-breds have been good to me, so I can’t complain,” said Puype. “Richard Kritzki is a small breeder, one or two at a time, max. He’s small, so this is very exciting for him. These races give the little guy a chance.”
Awesome Return ran the 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:48.88 and won by a length at odds of 4-1, with Patriots Rule second and Alert Bay third in a field of eight.
Puype said he wants to keep Awesome Return on the turf and will point to the $100,000 Silky Sullivan Stakes for 3-year-olds at one mile on turf at Golden Gate on June 8.
“He’s a talented colt with a bright future, but he still had to put it together today,” said Puype. “I couldn’t be happier with the way he performed.”
Talamo said he didn’t expect to be as close to the frontrunners as he was.
“I thought they would have gone a little bit quicker, se we went to Plan B and stayed a little bit closer,” he said. “He’s such a nice horse. What makes him so good is he has that big turn of foot and inn turf races you definitely need that to get to certain spots. I just showed him a few seams and he did all the rest.”
For Awesome Return’s pedigree, click http://www.pedigreequery.com/awesome+return.