Houston, Texas (March 6, 2004) - A full field of twelve 3-year-olds were entered in tonight’s feature race at Sam Houston Race Park, the $30,000 Texas Heritage Stakes. The winner, with a determined closing effort, was Foxtrot Oscar, owned by Nancy Welch and trained by William Welch.

Bred in South Carolina, Foxtrot Oscar was making just the fifth start of his career. He won an allowance at Sam Houston Race Park on December 20 and Welch entered him in the $30,000 Bucharest Stakes on January 31. He rallied well for second in that stakes and once again, showed his ability to come from off the pace in tonight’s effort. Rider Filemon Rodriguez has been aboard the bay colt in all three of his Houston starts and won tonight’s one-mile contest in a time of 1:38.72.

"He trained so well since the Bucharest that we expected him to run good," said Welch. "I thought the three got him at the wire but he managed to get his nose there first. We have some trouble communicating with Filemon as he doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Spanish, but my assistant communicated with him and he did just what we wanted him to do. Now we’ll look to see what else is here or maybe at Oaklawn near the end of this month. We are thankful to God for giving us such a wonderful opportunity."

Post time favorite, Sling Shot dueled with Foxtrot Oscar, but lost the photo at the wire. Sling Shot is owned by Robert McNair and this would have been back-to-back Texas Heritage Stakes for McNair’s Stonerside Stable as Catalissa captured the 2003 edition of the race.

"We lost by a hair," stated John Adger, Racing and Bloodstock agent for McNair’s Stonerside Stable. "He has run well in each of his races at Sam Houston."

Foxtrot Oscar, sent off at 6-1, returned $15.20 for the win. The 8-3 exacta paid $48.20 and Goosey Moosey, trained by Danny Pish, completed the $529.60 trifecta. Charming Socialite, Big Smoothy, Private Harbor, Dusty Tunnel, Forum Rules, Hawkish, Air Hadif, Polish Navigator and Heather’s Warrior completed the order of finish.