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2017 Was A Darling Year To Remember
Dan and Tiara Darling's Darling Farm enjoyed an impressive racing season in 2017.

© Kerri Kemp / StallioneSearch
2017 Was A Darling Year To Remember

By Greg Thompson, Stallionesearch.com

DALLAS, TX—JANUARY 3, 2018—As we move several days past the conclusion of 2017, Darling Farms’ Dan and Tiara Darling can only marvel of the path that was paved by their runners in the previous twelve-months of racing.

Darling, an Oklahoma-native steeped in the oil and insurance business, was someone who always kept pleasure and show horses around prior to entering into racehorses in 2014.

"My wife’s father was a trainer, and I was hoping to move away from the miniature horse business into hopefully making a profit in the racing business," said Dan Darling. "That plan didn’t work, as we now have both the miniature and the race horses to contend with."

Only two years after entering the racehorse business, Darling Farms experienced a near-miss in the $3 Million All American Futurity (G1) at Ruidoso Downs with One Fabulous Eagle.

The Darling family (right) with co-owner/trainer Jaime Gomez after winning the richest Quarter Horse race in California.
© Scott Martinez
Success seemed to be coming easily for the Oklahoma-residents, but what they didn’t know is that a high level of achievement rested on the shoulders of a three-year old Apollitical Jess gelding that Dan Darling had purchased from the 2015 Heritage Place Mixed Sale for only $12,700.

"I think more people would look closer at owning a running Quarter horse if they knew that our biggest runners of 2017, Hold Air Hostage and J Fire Up, where purchased for $12,700 and $20,000," said Darling. "It doesn’t require the purchase of a $100,000 or $200,000 yearling to have success in futurities and derbies."

Hold Air Hostage

Hold Air Hostage began his 3-year-old season with a third-placed effort after a trouble start in trials for the Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Derby.

In his second attempt at making a derby field in 2017, Hold Air Hostage qualified to the Heritage Place Derby (G2) at Remington Park. In the finals, jockey Rodrigo Vallejo opted to ride the more accomplished (at the time), grade-1 Heritage Place Futurity winner Duponte in the finals over Hold Air Hostage.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Hold Air Hostage took down the All American Derby, Rainbow Derby and Heritage Place Derby during his 3-year-old campaign. © Bee Silva
Jockey Ricky Ramirez picked up the ride aboard the Darling Farms runner and posted an extremely impressively two-length victory in the $297,100 Derby final. From that point on, Vallejo would not let Hold Air Hostage be ridden by anyone else.

The Darling Farms gelding headed west to contest the Rainbow Derby (G1) trials at Ruidoso Downs in July, where he set the fastest time from of :21.414 seconds from 95 starters on July 9th.

In the $1,150,000 Rainbow Derby(G1) final, Hold Air Hostage came back even stronger than two-weeks prior to blister the Ruidoso racecourse in a time of :21.397 seconds, defeating Texas Classic Futurity (G1) winner High Plains Perry by two-lengths in route to his first grade-1 victory.

The Darling family accept Hold Air Hostage's Grade 1 All American Derby stakes trophy at Ruidoso Downs.
© Kerri Kemp / StallioneSerach
Nearly four weeks later, Hold Air Hostage was at the post again in what would be deemed by many in the Quarter Horse racing world as one of the most impressive efforts of 2018.

On a sloppy, sealed Ruidoso racetrack, Hold Air Hostage with Vallejo aboard electrified the crowd on hand with the fastest time of :21.109 seconds for the Grade 1 All American Derby

"That race was the largest thrill I have had thus far in my stint as an owner in racing," said Darling. "I knew it was fast, but when they posted the time of :21.109, it knocked my breath away. To post a time that is three-tenths of a second in front of the rest of field, the best three-year olds in the country, was just super-impressive. That trial race was the high point for me in 2017."

Hold Air Hostage would return in good order for the Labor Day weekend classic event for three-year olds. In the $1,365,908 All American Derby (G1), Vallejo once again broke out on top of the field with the Jimmy Padgett trainee, and guided the Darling Farms runner to a convincing 2-¼ length victory on Quarter Horse racing’s grandest stage.

J Fire Up

While the Darling Farms 3-year-old Hold Air Hostage was paving his path in Oklahoma in early summer, prior to heading to Ruidoso, trainer Jamie Gomez was firing up the California-bred 2- year-old filly J Fire Up for her freshman campaign on the West Coast. Darling had purchased an interest in the filly on a visit to trainer's farm.

Multiple Grade 1 winner J Fire Up won seven of nine starts in 2017 and earned $1,430,411. © Scott Martinez
"She was such a big, gorgeous looking horse from the beginning," said Darling. "You could tell right away that she was a runner."

In her second career start, J Fire Up broke her maiden and made it into the field of the Ed Burke Million (G1) as the tenth-fastest qualifier in her first trial attempt of 2017.

In the finals, jockey Jose Nicascio grabbed an early lead in the grade-1 stakes, but missed out on victory by a head as Kvn Corona captured the top spot in the closing strides of the 350-yard race.

Three weeks later, the daughter of Kiddy Up was going post ward in the Governor’s Cup Futurity(G2) trials at Los Alamitos, in an effort that saw her qualify fifth in her second graded stakes futurity.

In the Ed Burke Million( G1), she had showed her liking for the inside by nearly capturing the $1-Million dollar futurity from the one-hole.

In the July 29th $390,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity (G2) final, the sorrel filly drew the inside post-position again, and this time she drew off to a three-quarter length win in her first futurity victory.

A week short of three months later, J Fire Up would make her next start in the 2017 Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity trials for trainer and co-owner Jaime Gomez. Jockey Jose M. Nicascio guided the filly to the fastest qualifying time for the grade-1 event.

In the $938,850 Golden State final, J Fire Up drew her coveted inside part of the racetrack and held off a late charge from the filly Matilda Czech to win the photo finish in a nose bob getting her second-straight futurity victory.

One of the most highly-touted and most-accomplished fillies in the country following her wins in the Golden State Million (G1) and Governor's Cup Futurity(G2), J Fire Up could easily fit into the discussions of being the top 2-year old of 2017, regardless of sex.

Her last destination for the year could give her a shot at eclipsing the $1 Million earnings mark for 2017.

The day after Thanksgiving, saw her stroll to victory once again at Los Alamitos in her trial for the Los Alamitos 2-Million Futurity(G1). In the effort, she posted the second fastest time from the 81 2-year-olds competing in the trials.

With year-end championship honors in the balance and more than $715,000 going to the winner, jockey Nicascio once again broke from the inside rail to rode the filly to a "complete runaway" in the $1,703,350 Los Alamitos 2 Million, California's richest race for 2-year-olds. J Fire Up scored her second grade-1 win of the year.

"In the Golden State Million, Matilda Czech almost came and got us at the wire," said Darling. "Jose (Nicascio) had watched that video, and this time in the 'Two-Million' he stayed after J Fire Up all the way to the wire. I knew it almost from the point that the gate had opened that she was going to win the race. It was an amazing way to close out the year of 2017. We have been extremely blessed."

Year Ending Honors

When the awards banquet to announce the 2017 AQHA Champions comes about in January at Heritage Place, Darling Farms looks and certainly hopes for a potentially busy night of heading to the podium to have his picture taken holding trophies.

J Fire Up, who has earned $1,430,411 in 2017 after an onslaught of three futurity victories, has to be one of the favorites to take home multiple division champion honors. She is second on the earnings list for 2017, only behind another filly, Fly Baby Fly winner of the $3 million All American Futurity(G1) at Ruidoso Downs.

The All American has historically carried a ton of weight when it comes to leveraging a decision from the AQHA voters, but 2017 was a year that saw J Fire Up win two grade-1 futurities, be a runner-up in a third grade-1 effort, and win a grade-2 futurity.

Voters would be hard-pressed to overlook her potential at being named AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old. With her ultra-impressive career resume from 2017, and the $1.4 Million in earnings, she certainly could be in consideration for AQHA World Champion honors.

Hold Air Hostage appears on paper to be the odds-on favorite to pull down the nod for AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Gelding, and to possibly AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old.

His stellar performances in the Heritage Place Derby(G2), Rainbow Derby(G1) and the All American Derby(G1) should firmly implant his bid in the mind of the voters as it pertains to his potential candidacy for being named 2017 AQHA Racing World Champion.

"The real shame is that Hold Air Hostage came down with those chips after Ruidoso," said Darling. I felt he could have gone on and did so much more in 2017 if he was able to remain sound enough to do so. The Texas Classic Derby (G1) and the Champion of Champions (G1) were realistic possibilities for him, and there is just no telling how well he could have done."

"I am just tickled to death that the wife and I have these two horses of this caliber that we own and co-own," said Darling. "I already told my family and friends that it is going to be very hard to top the year of racing we had in 2017."

With those two runners making headlines for Darling Farms in 2017, it also has given Dan and Tiara Darling a better than average chance at taking home AQHA Champion Owner honors for 2017. J Fire Up is owned in partnership with Jamie Gomez and Ernesto Solis, but even with the $1.4 Million not being accounted for in the stats line, Darling Farms runners earned $1,448,724 from 21 victories.

The AQHA Awards presentation takes place at Heritage Place on January 17, 2018 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.