Ralph Ziadie and Eibar Coa sweep Texas Mile and Lone Star Derby with Sir Bear and Tahkodha Hills

Miami trainer Ralph Ziadie knew how to make a big impression during his first visit to Texas. He shipped three-year-old Tahkodha Hills and seven-year-old Sir Bear to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie and won the $300,000 Lone Star Derby and the $300,000 Texas Mile (G3) with the pair on April 22.

Jockey Eibar Coa also found the Texas trip to be nicely profitable. Coa gave up the mount on Rollin With Nolan in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) at Keeneland Race Course that day to ride Tahkodha Hills and Sir Bear.

"I decided to come here because Ralph showed a lot of confidence," said Coa. The rider's choice looked even wiser when Rollin With Nolan finished fifth behind winner Unshaded.

Ziadie's confidence could turn into a million bucks for the Tahkodha Hills team, which includes owner-breeder Vernon Heath of Bloomington, Minnesota, who races in the name of Centaur Farms Inc. Lone Star Park has offered a $1-million bonus to any horse who wins the Lone Star Derby and any one of this year's Triple Crown races. The owner would receive $750,000, and the trainer would get $250,000.

Tahkodha Hills, a Florida-bred son of Prospector's Halo out of Appella, by World Appeal, will not run in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 6, but Ziadie is aiming for the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 10.

"He ran in the Flamingo (Stakes [G3]) two weeks ago (he finished fourth), and it was a little close," Ziadie said. "He needs more time. The longer this horse goes, the better he'll be. He'll definitely point to the Belmont, and it's possible we'll run in the Preakness (Stakes [G1]) or the (May 13) Illinois Derby (G2)."

Heath, who watched the simulcast of the Lone Star Derby at Canterbury Park, got Tahkodha Hills by breeding Appella to now-deceased Prospector's Halo, who was Heath's very first horse. The colt broke his maiden last October at Calder Race Course in his fourth start, the first time Coa rode him. Before the year was out, Coa and Tahkodha Hills had won Calder's What a Pleasure Stakes (G3). This year, under different jockeys, Tahkodha Hills had won one of four starts, with a third in the Florida Derby (G1) and a fourth in the Flamingo.

In the Lone Star Derby, Tahkodha Hills faced six other three-year-olds, including 4-to-5 favorite Big Numbers, a son of Numerous who finished second to Snuck In at Oaklawn Park in the Rebel Stakes (G3) on March 25. Tahkodha Hills pressed the early pace of J W Jet and won by three-quarters of a length over Jeblar Sez Who, with Big Numbers two lengths farther back in third. The winner, second choice at 3.10-to-1, ran the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.05.

"I just took back a little bit at the half-mile just to put him on the outside in the clearest spot," said Coa. "Coming into the stretch, he just showed me that he can run more than he was showing before. And he showed me a lot of class to win the race."

Ziadie did not give Coa specific instructions.

"There was not a lot of speed in the race," Ziadie said. "I told Eibar to ride it as the race comes up. The colt was a little sharp-he was a little on the muscle."

Added Coa: "In the stretch he just switched leads a little bit late. He was lugging in on me a little bit. But after he switched leads, he just took off."

Sir Bear's Texas Mile

Nine older runners lined up a half-hour later in the Texas Mile. While the crowd of 16,119 preferred a pair of four-year-olds, Forty One Carats from Florida and Luftikus from California, Sir Bear demonstrated that experience counts. The seven-year-old gelding, making his 51st start, closed from seventh to overtake front-running Lexington Park and prevail by a head in 1:35.98. Luftikus finished third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Lexington Park after being "bounced around pretty good going into the first turn," according to his jockey, David Flores. Forty One Carats, the 8-to-5 favorite, prompted the early pace and ended up sixth.

Texas Mile S. (G3)
Lone Star Park, April 22, $300,000, 1 mile, fast, 1:35.98
1-SIR BEAR, g. 7, Sir Leon-Spicy Pearl, by Bet Big.
2-Lexington Park, g. 4, Williamstown-Saintly, by King's Bishop.
3-Luftikus, c. 4, Meadowlake-Andora, by Conquistador Cielo.

"He just went too fast too early," said David Fawkes, who trains Forty One Carats.

"We knew there was a lot of speed," said Coa. "So after I broke from the gate, I just let him settle. At the half-mile pole, I started to ask him to get a better position for coming into the stretch. We had to go wide on the far turn, and he did get a little tired, but he showed a lot of heart."

Sir Bear, third choice at 3.30-to-1, raised his lifetime earnings to $1,661,160 in winning his 16th race. Though he had failed to place in his two starts this year prior to the Mile, Sir Bear won the 1998 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) and 1999 Metropolitan Handicap (G1).

"We will have to defend our trophy in the Met Mile," said Ziadie, who wants Coa to stay aboard his handicap star. "First (Jerry) Bailey comes off him, then John Velazquez. I'm a very loyal guy. I'd like Eibar to continue to ride him."

Ziadie believes a mile is Sir Bear's best distance, especially the one-turn mile of the Met.

Florida veterinarian Al Smollin bred Sir Bear. His wife, Barbara, campaigns the Florida-bred son of Sir Leon out of Spicy Pearl, by Bet Big. Barbara is an enthusiastic owner. When Sir Bear entered the winner's circle, she ran over to him, planted a kiss on his nose, and then leaped into the air on the way back to pose for photos. She plans to repay Sir Bear with a life of leisure when his racing days are over.

"We've had many offers to buy him," Barbara Smollin said, "but I have two acres in Florida and I've already fenced it. When he retires, I'll build a barn."

For now, Ziadie sees to the gelding's needs, even down to his drinking water. When Sir Bear travels, Ziadie gives him bottled water.

"The first time we shipped him to Aqueduct, the groom called to say the horse wouldn't eat," Ziadie recalled. "I said to go get bottled water because he was used to it, and we've been giving him bottled water ever since."

Sir Bear shows no signs of slowing down, but the Smollins have one in the wings, a two-year-old full brother to Sir Bear named Unbearable. He has just started training but is not likely to run until next year.

"I don't race them at two," said Smollin, who attributes Sir Bear's soundness to his late start. He made 13 starts at three and 15 at four.

HEART OF TEXAS-The Smollins still own Spicy Pearl, a homebred in foal to Dixieland Band. Al Smollin took time away from his duties as a private equine veterinarian to such horses as Tahkodha Hills and Mr. Livingston to attend the Mile at Lone Star. "I have very understanding clients," he said with a grin. Smollin's next stop may be Churchill Downs because another of his charges is Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Hal's Hope. ... The Lone Star Derby, the seventh race on the card, was delayed 12 minutes when three of ten members of a sky-diving team were injured as they landed on the racetrack as part of the day's festivities. The wind had picked up, resulting in a hard fall for James Knight, Wayne Keese, and Allen Lawson. Keese came away with a sprained right ankle, and Lawson had minor pains in a knee. But Knight, a veteran of more than 1,000 jumps, fractured his right leg and underwent surgery at Methodist Hospital in Dallas. When he made the Lone Star jump, Knight reportedly had rods and screws in the same leg from a previous sky dive elsewhere. The Derby horses were in the paddock at the time of the incident.