Peppers Pride (b. March 24, 2003 in New Mexico) is a multiple stakes winning American Thoroughbred race horse. At the age of five, and following in the hoofprints of Citation, Cigar, Mister Frisky (going into the 1990 Kentucky Derby with this record) and Hallowed Dreams (running only against Louisiana-breds), she was the fifth thoroughbred to win 16 North American races in a row. The record of consecutive races won is considered one of racing's greatest achievements. On October 4, 2008, she entered the record books as the first and only race horse to win 17 consecutive North American races, then raised that number to 19 on December 14, 2008. She has also never been defeated.

Her sire, Desert God, is out of the same dam, Blush With Pride, as, the broodmare who was sold for $14 million dollars at Fasig-Tipton in early November, 2008 Better Than Honour. Joe Allen purchased Desert God from the University of Arizona. Her dam is the Chili Pepper Pie mare Lady Pepper who placed in the 1990 Bluebonnet Stakes. Peppers Pride was her last foal.

As of December, 2008, the undefeated Peppers Pride (her grandsire the winning Fappiano by the influential stallion Mr. Prospector) has competed only in her birth state, New Mexico, always against New Mexico breds, and has been ridden by the same jockey, Carlos Madeira, in every one of her 19 starts and 19 wins. Beginning in July 2005, trained by Joel Marr, who began training for Joe Allen in 2000, and under increasing weight, Pepper's Pride has so far won from five and a half furlongs to one mile, twelve times in stakes company, and always against fillies. Peppers Pride first showed her worth at two, making a four-wide rally on the turn to win the New Mexico Classic Cup Juvenile Fillies. This is the premier race for two-year-old females during New Mexico Cup day.

Her owner/breeder, Joe Allen of Abilene, Texas, said: “"We know that this filly is not Citation or Cigar. We haven't been the ones to compare her to those horses. We're just glad to have her."

She was nearly beaten in 2006 running in a prep allowance race when she got up by only a nose after a late run, but went on to win that year's New Mexico Cup Championship for Fillies by a length as the 11-10 favorite.

Called the “Queen of New Mexico Racing,” Peppers Pride was expected to try for her seventeenth win in her seventeenth start on July 27th, 2008 in the $55,000 Lincoln Handicap at Ruidoso Downs, thereby beating the modern standing record. The Lincoln Handicap is a restricted six furlong race which the mare won in 2007 by one and three-quarters lengths. Pepper's Pride would have been the 127-pound top weight, carrying at least 11 pounds more than any other horse entered. July 27th was her owner's 62nd birthday. But the track was inundated with rain from Hurricane Dolly just before the date. In a six-furlong allowance race at Zia Park on October 4, 2008, she succeeded in her attempt to set the record for consecutive wins. Bringing out a capacity crowd, her record over the Hobbs oval at Zia is now seven-for-seven. After this, Peppers Pride was pointed yet again to the New Mexico Cup Championship for Fillies and Mares. On the November 9, 2008 New Mexico Cup Day (with its $2 million in purses making that program the richest day for any state-bred racing program), she exceeded by 2 races the highest number of consecutive wins by any American Thoroughbred. Racing four wide, she made her move under Madeira in the final turn of the one-mile event, was then pressed by the pacesetter, La Sorpressa, but held her off by one length in a time of 1:38.20.

December 14, 2008, Peppers Pride gave 7 to 12 pounds against a quality field in the $125,000 New Mexico State Racing Commission Handicap. By winning this race in a display of outstanding ability she extended her record to 19 straight races. [1]

She has also eclipsed the modern day international mark of Silent Witness racing in Hong Kong .

Allen announced he had retired his mare on January 16, 2009. "She's smart, and you can rate her; you can really do anything with her,” Allen said. “She just seems like she wants to win. She's a wonderful mare. We would love to retire her undefeated, but more than anything else, we want to retire her sound; she's been so good to us. We've had a little criticism for not running her in open company and not running her in this or that and all this other stuff. But Joel Marr said it best, ‘If it's so easy, I'm surprised there haven't been 100 of them like her.'”

Peppers Pride won the horseraceinsider.com award for Overachiever of the Year 2008 Insider Award: To the history making little New Mexico-bred filly that could, Peppers Pride. [2]

Peppers Pride is, as of May 2009, in foal to Tiznow who stands at Winstar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky . [1]

Sharing the old record of 16 consecutive wins is a Paint horse out of Oklahoma called Got Country Grip. Paint Horses are sprinters, no turns, just a flat out run for the wire. [3]

References

• ^ Pepper's Pride Perfect - http://racing.bloodhorse.com/article/48442.htm
• ^ http://www.horseraceinsider.com/blog.php/The-Insiders-Awards/category/2008-insiders-awards/01222009-form-holds-in-2008-insider-awards
• ^ NewsOK - http://newsok.com/article/3232610/1208664037

Artwork
1. Peppers Pride - Canvas - Peppers Pride By Fred Stone - Horse Racing Artwork. $350.00 Click Here to Buy Now!

2. Peppers Pride - Poster By Fred Stone - Peppers Pride modern horse racing record holder. Poster By Fred Stone, Horse Racing Artwork. $60.00 Click Here to Buy Now!

The breed information above is provided by Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrightsfor details.)

Horse Smarts does not endorse or confirm accuracy of any information listed on this page. It was provided by Wikipedia. Horse Smarts does not endorse sites listed in the horse breed pages, the Horse Classified listings or link pages.

< Return to Thoroughbred Breed Page

Top of the Page