-photo by Jack Coady/Coady Photography

Houston, Texas (January 14, 2006) - Three-year-old fillies took center stage this evening at Sam Houston Race Park and longshot Chit Chat Pam proved much the best in the $30,000 Cy-Fair Stakes. The daughter of leading Texas sire, Valid Expectations was making just the second start of her career, but was a convincing winner under rider Filemon Rodriguez. Despite stumbling to her knees out of the gate, the lightly raced filly impressed her owner Ken Murphy of Dallas and trainer Bob Young. Chit Chat Pam defeated her seven rivals crossing the wire of the six-furlong contest in 1:11.29.

“She’s a nice filly,” commented Young. “She got away from the gates badly, but she did what we thought she could do. We were just happy to prove it. We’ll see how she comes out of the race and pick a spot. She is eligible for the Texas Stallion Stakes (on February 18); that’s an option. We’ll take our time and Ken and I will talk about it next week.”

“She’s very fast; a good horse,” added Murphy. “We had an option of taking her to Shreveport for a maiden special weight or running her here in a stakes for the same amount of money, so decided to run her here.”

Trainer Steve Asmussen had two fillies in tonight’s stakes, Yaddo Cat, who captured her last two stakes in New Mexico and Mystical Mary, who had won two of her three previous starts at Sam Houston Race Park. Mystical Mary, owned by Keith Asmussen, gave an excellent effort tonight, rallying for second under rider Jose Figueroa.

“I stayed off the pace,” recapped Figueroa. “I knew there was a lot of speed in this race and Steve told me not to go off with them. I took back and just made one run.”

Yaddo Cat, owned by Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, weakened in the stretch and finished fourth.

“It could have been that she was just tired from her trip,” said jockey Glen Murphy. “She just didn’t run her race today and I just don’t know why.”

Chit Chat Pam earned $18,000 for tonight’s victory. Sent off at 23-1, the dark bay filly paid $48.60 to win, $13.80 to place and $7.40 to show. The 2-5 exacta returned $328.80 and the trifecta with Bara Lass Stakes winner, Annie Savoy, paid $1,123.40. Completing the order of finish were Seven Anns, Misty Forest, Texas Cowgirl and Brite Pink.

Live racing continues each Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout the month of January. The 2005/2006 Thoroughbred Meeting concludes on Sunday, April 9, 2006.

Favorite Mags Mad Max Wins the $11,800 Kontiki Stakes

The $11,800 Kontiki Arabian Texas-Bred Stakes was run by four-year-olds and up earlier this evening at Sam Houston Race Park. The winner at a distance of seven furlongs was Mags Mad Max, the 2-5 favorite in a time of 1:34.56. Mags Mad Max, who finished second in this contest last year, is trained by Mike Furr and owned by Sam Vasquez of Galveston.

Omar Rodriguez had the mount aboard the five-year-old California-bred. Sonofazuby ran second under Justin Shepherd for trainer Elizabeth Brand and owner Melissa Dueitt. Tt Nordic, at 41-1, was third with rider Quincy Hamilton aboard.