Hooked N Gone, Jesus Ayala, won the $54,510 AQHA Prairie Meadows Championship Challenge Stakes at Prairie Meadows Sunday.

© Jack Coady Photography

By H. David Smith, StallioneSearch

ALTOONA, IA—AUGUST 17, 2025—Hooked N Gone punched his ticket to the Grade 1 AQHA Challenge Championship with a determined victory in Sunday’s $54,510 AQHA Prairie Meadows Championship Challenge Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

The 5-year-old gelding covered 440 yards in :21.760 seconds, earning a 90 speed index with a 5 mph headwind over a fast track.

Owned and bred in Oklahoma by Regina Laymon, multiple graded stakes winner Hooked N Gone is by leading sire Pyc Paint Your Wagon and out of Pretty Girl Kate by Pretty Boy Perry.

Trained by Dean Frey and ridden by Jesus Ayala, the bay gelding rallied late to edge clear by a neck. The victory was worth $25,620, boosting his career earnings to $762,443 while also securing his berth in the $350,000-est. AQHA Challenge Championship (G1) on October 18 at The Downs at Albuquerque.

Hooked N Gone was making only his third start this year after winning the Debbie Schauf Remington Park Invitational(G1) in his last start and finishing second in the Grade 1 Dee Raper Sooner State Stakes at Remington Park on April 19, following a layoff after competing in the Grade 1 Champion of Champions last December.

Second place went to Mystic Paint, a 4-year-old colt by Pyc Paint Your Wagon and out of Jess So Sixy by Mr Jess Perry. Bred in Oklahoma by Cavenaugh Quarter Horses LLC, Mystic Paint races for William F. Harned and is conditioned by Jason Olmstead, with Ramiro Garcia aboard.

He earned $10,902 for his runner-up effort, after winning the Grade 3 Keokuk Stakes in his last start July7. Mystic Paint was a $43,000 purchase at the 2022 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale and has earned $327,538 in 22 career starts.

Finishing third was Cardiac Cowboy, a 4-year-old gelding by leading third-crop sire Flying Cowboy 123 out of Southard Cartel by Carters Cartel. Bred by Jo Rice (OK), he is owned by Tom & Lou Ann Smith and Amber Olmstead, trained by Jason Olmstead, and ridden by Armando Alvidrez. He was also  third in the Keokuk Stakes(G3) in his last start.

A graded stakes winner, Cardiac Cowboy, who was a $30,000 RNA at the 2022 Heritage Place Fall Mixed Sale, earned $5,451 to boost his career mark to $338,859.

Pari-mutuel payoffs returned $5.00 to win, $3.60 to place, and $2.80 to show on Hooked N Gone. Mystic Paint paid $5.20 to place and $3.80 to show, while Cardiac Cowboy returned $5.40 to show.

One Fabulous Boy, Buymyladyacorona, A Legacy of Tales, Ab Boogie, Nothin Like You, and One Stolin Eagle completed the field.

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