(Saturday, August 2, 2003) - The $13,750 Woodlands Stakes was split into two divisions this evening at Sam Houston Race Park. In the first division longshot Dirty Dealing Doc, owned by Sunshine Ranch ($17.00) gunned from the rail to win the 870-yard stakes in a time of :46.416. Trained by Lewis "Tooter" Jordan, the 3-year-old Texas-bred gelding won the first stakes of his career under rider Jesse Sauceda.

"Tooter told me to go to the front and stay out of trouble," said Sauceda, who was riding Dirty Dealing Doc for the first time. "We were a little worried about the two (Exclusively Hooked) getting out, but we never had any trouble. He broke on the lead and showed a lot of heart."

"The horse has a lot of try to him," said Jordan. "We broke him late last year; he kept growing and has really taken to running around the turn."

Joe Task, from the barn of John Buchanan, rallied for second under rider John Hamilton.

"I had to run him more than I wanted to," said Hamilton. "I tried to give him a breather and he started going in spurts; back and forth. He's a little green. He just flattened out. He ran a game race, and like I said, he's still a little green. This is only his fourth out. He will be real good as a 4-year-old."

Call Me Mr Feature, trained by Janet Van Bebber, was making his first start at Sam Houston Race Park after back-to-back victories at Los Alamitos. He broke poorly and was moving well in the stretch, but finished third.

"He had a little trouble getting a hold of the track," said rider Gilbert Ortiz. "When he did, he came running, but it was too late. They have a longer run to the turn at Los Alamitos and he may have needed this race to get used to running over this track."

Dirty Dealing Doc returned $17.00, $4.80 and $2.80 as the fourth betting choice. The 4-6 exacta returned $53.20 and the 4-6-3 trifecta paid $142.60. Jess Rio, Fly Arae, Show Me The Streak and Exclusively Hooked completed the order of finish.

High On Freedom, owned by Linda Loftis Tobias of Fort Worth, Texas, was the winner of the second division of the $14,000 Woodlands Stakes. Trained by Mike and Tiffany Zingelmann, the 3-year-old gelding was a seven-length winner here on July 17 and captured his first stakes win tonight under rider Alfonso Lujan. Lujan may get the nickname "Mr Woodlands" as he won both divisions of the 870-yard stakes last year.

"We started him in the beginning of the year at Delta Downs and he wasn’t doing too well," recalled Lujan. "The track may have been a little too small for him but he really likes this track. He’s trained well here and won his first start (on July 17).He finished good today."

"We were a little worried about our horse coming back after 2 ½ weeks," said Zingelmann. "Much of the credit goes to Alfonso. We noticed a long time ago that he had a was very talented and we were very proud of him."

High On Freedom, sent off as the favorite in this division, paid $4.60, $3.40 and $2.80 across the board. Zingelmann may consider bringing him back to Sam Houston Race Park for the Governor's Cup Marathon (G2) on August 30. Longshot Jw Silver, ridden by Jesse Sauceda, closed strongly to key the $64.80 exacta and Shake Down Ronny completed the $529.40 trifecta. The rest of the field included Four Nines, Sovereign Playmate, Call Me Lenas Girl, Dashing Success and A Meter Reader.

Other Stakes Action

Saturday night’s card also featured the running of the $10,000 Spotted-Dotted Stakes for 2-year-old Paints and Appaloosas. Emerging victorious in the field of nine was Treasured Toot, bred in Louisiana for owners, L/J Farms, Inc. Trained by Kenneth Roberts, Sr. , Treasured Toot ($7.60) has won two of his three career starts. He was ridden to victory tonight by Alvin "Bubba" Brossette.

News and Notes

In the tenth race, Lovetostrawfly, owned by Bernell & Lyle Lovett went down 100-yards from the finish line, unseating rider Jesse Sauceda. The 3-year-old filly was unresponsive and was euthanized on the racetrack. Sauceda was conscious, but suffered a shoulder or possible collarbone injury and was transported to Cy-Fair Hospital for further evaluation and treatment.