Racing


Kissed By An Eagle Runs Like A Flash In 2017 Debut
Kissed By An Eagle, under jockey Cesar DeAlba, winning the $25,000 Vandys Flash Handicap Sunday night at Los Alamitos Race Course.

© Scott Martinez
Kissed By An Eagle Runs Like A Flash In 2017 Debut

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JUNE 25, 2017—Owned and bred by Mark and Peggy Brown, Dreaming Of Kisses was a star on the track for her connections, as the winner of the $100,000 Bitterroot Futurity in 2010. Sired by the Brown’s stallion, Legendary Dreamer, and out of their mare, Go For Kisses, Dreaming Of Kisses has become a star in the breeding shed for the Idaho couple.

Over the last two years, Dreaming Of Kisses has produced recent $1,000,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity finalist Jess My Kiss and also the now multiple stakes winner Kissed By An Eagle, the sixth place finisher in last year’s Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

Mark and Peggy Brown, Shirley Schvaneveldt and Dennis Givens following Kissed By An Eagle's win in Sunday's Vandys Flash Handicap. © Scott Martinez
"She’s quite a mare," Mark Brown said. "She’s given us two really nice horses."

Kissed By An Eagle won the John Deere California Juvenile Stakes last year before adding the $25,000 Vandy’s Flash Handicap to his resume on Sunday night at Los Alamitos.

Ridden by Cesar De Alba for trainer Dennis Givens, Kissed By An Eagle covered the 400-yards in :19.757 in his sophomore debut, while beating a field that included Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity winner Lotta Blues Man, Wild West Futurity winner Bannister, El Primero Del Ano Derby winner Stelfast, and Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby winner Imaqtpie.

"This was a field good enough for a Grade 1 race," Brown added.

And Kissed By An Eagle is good enough to make a big impact in major races at Los Alamitos this year. Making his first start since a very troubled outing in the Los Alamitos Two Million final, the gelding by One Famous Eagle broke sharply from the outside post seven to cruise to a wire-to-wire ¾-length victory over Lotta Blues Man. The victory was the Idaho-bred’s fifth in 10 career starts and his earnings of $13,750 pushed his career total to $153,781.

"We turned him out for a rest after the Two Million," Mark Brown said. "We ran him pretty hard last year. He got into a lot of trouble in the Two Million. He got bumped and was way back and was really flying back at the end of that. We wanted to give him a little bit of time and wanted to wait until the later derbies. We have been aiming him for this race so that it could set him up for the Golden State Derby (trials on August 6) and the Los Alamitos Super Derby later on."

In the winner’s circle, the Browns were joined by the Schvaneveldt family, whom they’ve always enjoyed a great working relationship, dating back to the early days of Blane Schvaneveldt bringing horses to Los Alamitos Race Course from Idaho.

"The Schvaneveldts are family," Brown said. "We’ve been family and great close friends for a lot of years. When Blane used to come down here, some of the horses he would come down with Peggy’s dad’s horses and the great Ivan Ashment’s horses. It’s really been a great ride for us through the years."

Lucky Seven Ranch’s Lotta Blues Man earned $5,625 for running second in the Vandy’s Flash. Cody Jensen piloted the Favorite Cartel gelding for trainer Mike Casselman.

Denny and Sandy Weigt’s Maknmoves gelding Bannister earned $3,125 for running third.

Stelfast, Favorite Aquaholic, Imaqtpie and Hold Sway completed the field.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.