A speedy 2-year-old colt with the unlikely name of Foose is stacking up to be the Quarter Horse equivalent of Big Brown.
On Saturday, June 21, Foose won the $1.2 million Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos, just 5/100s of a second shy of the 350-yard track record. It was the Stel Corona colt’s third win in three starts. He made his debut on April 19 with a 3 1/2-length victory and the fastest 300-yard (15.19) by a 2-year-old first-time starter on record at Los Alamitos.
“His debut was the most impressive win that I had seen since Bunnys Bar Maid in the sixties,” said AQHA Hall of Fame owner Ed Allred, who purchased half-interest in Foose from trainer Paul Jones, after the colt’s debut. “I thought about it for about twenty seconds and then I decided to buy the horse. I remember watching (1961 champion 2-year-old filly) Bunnys Bar Maid run 18 flat, which back then was a very fast time, to win by four lengths. That’s what I was reminded of when I saw Foose win his debut.”
Foose got loose from his competition right from the start of the Ed Burke, opening up a 1/2-length advantage before sailing home to a length victory over Kindergarten Futurity runner-up Sixish. Ridden by Ramon Sanchez, Foose covered the 350-yard distance in 17.22.
With $474,350 in earnings, Foose is the nation’s leading Quarter Horse money earner by $2,183 over Jerry Windham’s Stolis Winner. He now has the chance to become the first horse ever to win the $1 million Los Alamitos Cash Bonanza bonus, if he goes on to win the Golden State Million, on November 1, and Los Alamitos Two Million, on December 12.
Jones, who saddled five of the 10 Ed Burke Million Futurity finalists and is a six-time AQHA champion trainer, bred Foose out of the Royal Quick Dash daughter Summertime Quickie. Foose is from the first crop of performers by Stel Corona, a graded stakes winner of $111,584, owned by the Stel Corona Partnership, Bosque, NM. Shortly after he purchased his interest in Foose, Allred moved quickly to obtain 25 percent interest in Stel Corona, who stood in New Mexico this year for $2,000.