Daytona B looks to make history Saturday night.

© Andrea Caudill/AQHA Racing

Q-RACING JOURNAL—NOVEMBER 5, 2015—On Saturday night, Daytona B will be trying to make history.

Last year’s winner of the Adequan Derby Challenge Championship (G3) at Prairie Meadows returns on Saturday to try to also take the $350,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1).

If he manages to win, it would make him only the second horse in Challenge history to achieve the Derby-Championship double, and the first to do so in consecutive years. The only horse to achieve the feat to date is world champion Tailor Fit, who won the 1999 edition of the Derby Championship and then came back to win the 2001 Challenge Championship.

Daytona B is 4-year-old son of legend First Down Dash. Bred in Texas by Bielau Oaks, he is out of the Toast To Dash mare Dashing Pana. He is owned by Gregorio Garza of McAllen, Texas, and has earned $311,353 in his career.

Making three starts as a freshman, he blossomed as a sophomore. He was a narrow nose behind Mister Big in the Sam Houston Derby (G3), third in the Firecracker Derby, then won the Adequan Prairie Meadows Derby Challenge. He came back to win the Championship by three-quarters of a length over Mister Big and Eyesa Famous Eagle, both of whom he will face in the Bank of America Challenge Championship this weekend.

But he didn’t end there – he headed to Hialeah Park where he was third in the $204,715 Hialeah Maturity, then won the $100,000 Sam Abbey Memorial Invitational Championship. He then went back to Sam Houston, where he gutted out a nose victory in the $105,840 Bank of America Sam Houston Championship Challenge (G2).

“We decided after Houston it was time to give him a break,” said trainer Rolando Almanza. “He had such a long campaign, we decided to ship him back home and give him time off.”

Daytona B took the summer off to rest and recoup, and resumed training in preparation for the Challenge Championships.

“He’s doing really good now,” Almanza said. “The only problem when you give a horse time off is, does he have enough air to get down that 440?”

Daytona B posted two works during the Lone Star meet to get him fit and prepped.

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