Graded stakes winner Pretty Sweet Jess has been set at 3-1 as the morning-line favorite in Friday's $40,000(CAN) AQHA Century Mile Championship Challenge at Century Mile Racetrack & Casino.

© Coady Photography Ltd.

By H. David Smith, StallioneSearch

EDMONTON, ONT–AUGUST 20, 202– A full field of top-caliber older Quarter Horses will square off Friday, August 22, in the $40,000(CAN) AQHA Century Mile Championship Challenge at Century Mile Racetrack & Casino.

The 440-yard test, run at the “classic” Quarter Horse distance, will highlight the evening card with an approximate post time of 6:15 p.m. (MDT).

Leading the lineup is Graded stakes winner and 3-1 morning-line favorite Pretty Sweet Jess, owned by Jerry Stojan and trained by William H. Leech. The 4-year-old sorrel mare by multiple stakes sire One Sweet Jess, out of Pretty Lethal by First Down Dash, has been dominant in AQHA Challenge races in Canada and beyond.

She won the John Deere Evergreen Juvenile Challenge at 2, the Adequan Century Mile Derby Challenge last summer, and was third in the Grade 3 Adequan Derby Challenge Championship at Albuquerque last fall.

Bred in California by Veronica Gail Kawananakoa and purchased for $17,000 at Los Alamitos Equine Sale, Pretty Sweet Jess enters off a sharp win in the $35,000 Cox Ranch Evergreen Park Distaff Challenge at Grande Prairie on July 27, where she covered 400 yards in 20.614 under Ricardo Moreno, who retains the mount.

She has won nine of 13 career starts and earned $138,028. She boasts an impressive record of three wins from five local starts.

Miss Fancy Nancy (7-2), another formidable contender, enters off a pair of dominant Century Mile stakes victories. The 4-year-old Alberta-bred mare, owned and bred by Barry and Janice Sather, is by Grade 1 winner Big Lew and out of Singles Cruise by Favorite Cartel.

Trained by Misael Moreno and ridden by Jesus Ambrocio Medina, she dazzled on June 14 with a wire-to-wire score in the $21,000 CTM Sprint, earning a 94 speed index in the process. A career winner of six races from 18 starts with $84,546 in earnings, she will be looking to turn the tables on Pretty Sweet Jess after several close finishes against her rival last season.

Also expected to draw attention is Flight Club (4-1), a seasoned 7-year-old gelding by Foose out of Seperate Flight by Separatist. Owned by Jerry Stojan and trained by William H. Leech, Flight Club has proven himself a stalwart over longer distances, capturing 17 career wins and banking over $204,700.

He exits a convincing 10-1/4-length win in the $21,000 Q-Racing Video Century Mile Distance Challenge on June 28, stopping the clock in 45.260 for 870 yards under jockey J.B. Botello. Purchased for $19,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale, Flight Club has thrived at Century Mile with 11 local victories, making him a legitimate threat if he breaks sharply.

Rounding out the featured quartet is Fired (9-2), a lightly raced but highly talented 4-year-old gelding by Fly Thru The Fire out of Ruths Chris by Separatist, bred in California by Steve D. Burns DVM and acquired for $18,000 at Los Alamitos.

Trained by William H. Leech for owner Jerry Stojan, Fired has shown grit in multiple photo finishes, including a narrow victory in the $22,000 Old Timers Classic at Century Mile on May 10, where he outdueled Miss Fancy Nancy. With five wins and seven seconds from 15 starts, Fired reunites with jockey Alexander Marti and could surprise at a price.

The AQHA Century Mile Championship Challenge promises a showdown of speed, class, and consistency, with local stars and proven veterans converging on the Alberta oval.

Also at stake for the winner is a berth in the $350,000-est. AQHA Challenge Championship (G1) on October 18 at The Downs at Albuquerque.

First post for Friday’s program is set for 6:15 p.m. MDT, with the 440-yard final shaping up as a highlight on the rich summer stakes calendar.

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