Houston, Texas (January 29,2005) - A speedy group of eight 3-year-olds put on a show in tonight's feature, the $40,000 Bucharest Stakes. The heavy favorite, Blazing Exploit did not disappoint his backers as he captured the second stakes race of his career for trainer Tom Amoss and owner William Dorminy.

The Bucharest Stakes is named for the late Thoroughbred sprinter Bucharest, owned by Israel Flores and trained by Amos Laborde, who set three track records at Sam Houston Race Park, including the lightening fast six furlong time of 1:08.88 on May 11, 1994, which remains the current track record. His regular rider, Allen Dupuy, was in the winner's circle tonight to make the trophy presentation.

Blazing Exploit, a Kentucky-bred son of Exploit is off to a brilliant start in his young career. He broke his maiden on September 2 at Ellis Park in Kentucky and won back-to-back races, including the $40,000 Delta Beau at Delta Downs last November.

Rider Adrian Ramos guided the dark brown colt to a gate-to-wire victory tonight, covering the six-furlongs in 1.12.06.

"He ran really well tonight," said Ramos. "The track was a little deep from the rain yesterday, but he handled it well."
Amoss did not make the trip to Houston for tonight's stakes, but has now trained the last two winners of the Bucharest Stakes. Last year's champion was Jimmy Cracked Corn.

Dwight Polite, part of the entry trained by John Locke, closed nicely down the lane under Sidney LeJeune to complete the exacta.

"He ran good," said LeJeune. "He was a little wider than I expected and a little wider than I hoped for, but he ran really well. Ever since the first time I rode him, he was nervous and excited. And every time I've ridden him, he's seemed to settle down, learn a lot more and progress every time. He's pretty nice. He improves every time I ride him."

" He gave a good effort," added Locke. "We tried him two turns and he kind of flattened out like he didn't want to go that far. He finished strong in here so we'll probably look at a NW3 allowance at 5.5 in a couple of weeks or maybe go two turns in the Texas Heritage (March 5) or wait for the Fort Bend County Stakes at seven furlongs. That's now 19 seconds this meeting. He ran good, but it would be more fun to win"

Blazing Exploit paid $5.00 for the win. The exacta returned $15.60 and the trifecta with Count the Bucks paid $74.40. El Hielo Hombre, Goes, Through the Storm, Andanight and Robo Secret completed the order of finish.

News and Notes

Bikers from Houston and surrounding areas showed their generosity on Saturday, January 29th when over 1,000 riders met at Gallery Furniture for a 49-mile bike ride to raise money for the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund.
The ride concluded at Sam Houston Race Park at 11:00 a.m.

Organized by Ed Casey with the Houston Area 1 Harley Owners Group, the event raised $25,000 for relief efforts for to assist the survivors in south and southeast Asia, who were left without food, water and shelter following the devastating Tsunami.

The participants were lead by police escorts as they made their way down to Sam Houston Race Park where various activities will be set up including a live auction, a 50/50 raffle, and a competition rating of show motorcycles (contestants must have participated in the ride). Iron Horse Custom Built Choppers and Texas Smoker and Grills will be on site handing out free bar-b-que and is donating (2) 24" Bar-b-que pits for the raffle. Other raffle items include gift certificates given by local Harley-Davidson Dealers and motorcycle parts.

Cynthia Hunt of KPRC-2 was an energetic master of ceremonies and Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale made an appearance at Sam Houston Race Park to accept the $25,000 check for the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund.