HOUSTON, TX- The fields are set for the premier day of Thoroughbred racing at Sam Houston Race Park. The Houston Racing Festival will take place on Saturday, January 25 with an afternoon post time of 1:00 pm (Central). 
 
The Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic, presented by PENN Women, at a mile and one-sixteenth on the main track, attracted nine fillies and mares, some proven stakes winners and an impressive group of nationally prominent conditioners, who confirmed their nominated runners in yesterday’s draw.
 
Hall of Fame Steve Asmussen has three prospects in the field as he hopes to add to his domination in the most prestigious Thoroughbred championship at Sam Houston Race Park. A victory on Saturday would be his sixth win in the 13th running of the Houston Ladies Classic following his score last year with Kaleem Shah Inc.’s Bellamore under three-time Sam Houston leading rider Stewart Elliott. 
 
Asmussen, who won his 1,000th Sam Houston Race Park win yesterday, has the following three entrants: Winchell Thoroughbred LLC’s homebred Recharge a 4-year-old Gun Runner Filly; Our Pretty Woman, a 4year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro owned by Courtlandt Farms (Donald Adam) and Flashy Lass, a 5year-old Street Sense mare, bred in Kentucky by Gary & Mary West Stables Inc.  Ben Curtis, who is currently riding at Fair Grounds, will pilot Recharge, who has two wins here, and will break from the rail. Our Pretty Woman, who ran in the 2024 Kentucky Oaks, will be ridden by Isaac Castillo and Flashy Lass, who has been stabled here since the end of December, has a series of works over the main track and will reunite with Elliott.
 
“We have high hopes for another win in the Houston Ladies Classic,” said Asmussen. “This spot on the calendar has been very good for us and we look forward to a good effort from each of our mares.”
 
Last year’s runner-up, Free Like a Girl, returns off a record-setting year for trainer Chasey Deville Pomier, who owns the Louisiana-bred in partnership with Gerald Bruno Jr. and Jerry Caroom. The 6-year-old daughter of El Deal was bred in Louisiana by retired jockey Kim Stover and her sister Lisa Osborne, the Louisiana Horse of the Year became the first Thoroughbred in Louisiana to bank $1 million in a single year. She enters her 2025 campaign with 21 wins and earnings of $2,105,978. 
 
“She is no stranger to graded stakes company and really liked Sam Houston’s surface last year,” stated Pomier.
“Freddy (Mannrique) rode her well and she’s been training well since her last race (the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint on December 14 at Fair Grounds).” 
 
She will van over from Louisiana on Friday and her connections are hopeful that she will finally get her first graded stakes win on Saturday.
 
Pomier, a mother of two, grew up in a racing family and knows that training a  two-million-dollar earner does not come easily.
 
“People ask me what makes her so special, and I always say it’s her heart,” she added. “We always get a little nervous before she runs; but she has rewarded us more that we could have ever imagined.”
 
Eclipse Award conditioner Brad Cox, who won the 2018 Houston Ladies Classic with John Gunther’s Tiger Moth, is sending in the very talented Alpine Miss, owned by Full of Run Racing and Madaket Stables. Sold for $190,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Classic Empire, out of the Curlin mare Le Moine, broke her maiden status at one of the most prestigious tracks in the country at Saratoga in upstate New York in her second career race in 2023. She had some issues requiring her to take some time off but came back with a resounding victory in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks last September. 
 
Cox, who has tabbed top New York jockey Manny Franco to ride the bay filly, was pleased with her runner up finish in the Grade 3, $200,000 Comley at Aqueduct, marked the Ladies Classic for her next start.
 
“She’s doing very well, and we have been pointing for this race since her run at Aqueduct,” explained Cox. “We look forward to getting her 4-year-old campaign kicked off on Saturday.”
 
Trainer Tom Amoss will be represented by Hoosier Philly, owned by  Gold Standard Racing Stable, LLC. The  5 year old mare by Into Mischief out of the Tapit mare Tapella sports plenty of back class, including a start in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. With six wins from 16 efforts, her earnings of $924,4 are the second highest in the field. She returns to action off a win in the $100,000 Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard last month at Fair Grounds. 
 
“It looks like a terrific group of horses,” commented Amoss on the Houston Ladies Classic field. “Her run in the Broussard was very good, but she will face a much tougher group on Saturday.”
 
The highly consistent  Miss Code West, a $12,000 Texas Thoroughbred Sale Graduate won the TTA Oaks here last year and went on to a very successful season at Remington Park, where she was honored as Remington Park Horse of the meet. Her lone loss was to Alpine Princess in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on Sept. 29 against open company. Owned by Jeffry L. and Julie Puryear, the 4-year -old filly by Code West, out of the Kipling mare Inca Miss, is trained by Kevin Scholl and will be ridden by regular rider Floyd Wethey, Jr.
 
“She pretty much toyed with them in her last stakes win at Remington,” said Scholl.  “This filly has made quite a bit of money for her earners; they are looking forward to her return to Sam Houston.”
 
Family Stone Racing’s Our Davina, who will make her fifth start for trainer Scott Young and Kara who ran fourth in the Zia Park Oaks last month for owners Glen and Wendy Voorhees and conditioner Matt Hebert, round out the field.
 
The Houston Ladies Classic, presented by PENN Women, will run as the ninth race of the afternoon, with an approximate post time of 5:00 pm (Central).  Here are the entrants, from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and odds):
1.         Recharge (Ben Curtis) Steve Asmussen; 20-1
2.         Our Pretty Woman (Issac Castillo) Steve Asmussen; 7-2
3.         Our Davina (Lindey Wade)  Scott Young); 30-1
4.         Alpine Princess (Manny Franco)  Brad Cox; 9-5
5.         Hoosier Philly (Edgar Morales) Tom Amoss; 3-1
6.         Free Like a Girl Freddy Manrrique) Chasey Pomier; 6-1
7.         Miss Code West (Floyd Wethey, Jr.) Kevin Scholl; 12-1
8.         Flashy Lass (Stewart Elliott) Steve Asmussen; 8-1
9.         Kara (Iram Diego) Matt Hebert; 30-1
 
Inaugurated in 2013, the Houston Ladies Classic was awarded its graded status by the American Graded Stakes Committee in 2016. The stakes has produced exceptional champions who have advanced to Grade 1 victories and captured national headlines. Joyful Victory, owned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms, trained by Larry Jones was the first winner of the Houston Ladies Classic. Eclipse Award winner Midnight Bisou, trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Steve Asmussen, captured the 2019 edition of the championship and surpassed the $7 million earnings mark with five Grade 1 victories. St. George Stable LLC’s Letruska, went on to win five consecutive stakes, including four Grade 1 titles before completing her 2021 campaign in the Grade 1, Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The complete list is as follows:
 
Houston Ladies Classic Champions
 
2024            Bellamore                             Stewart Elliott                       Steve Asmussen                1:46.24
2023            Pauline’s Pearl                     Stewart Elliott                       Steve Asmussen                1:45.69
2022            Pauline’s Pearl                     Joel Rosario                           Steve Asmussen                1:44.43
2021            Letruska                               Jesus Castanon                      Fausto Gutierrez               1:45.02
2020            Lady Apple                          Ricardo Santana Jr.               Steve Asmussen                1:44.19
2019            Midnight Bisou                    Mike Smith                            Steve Asmussen                1:44.52
2018            Tiger Moth                           Florent Geroux                      Brad Cox                           1:46.01
2017            Unbridled Mo                      Jose Ortiz                              Todd Pletcher                    1:42.89
2016            Forever Unbridled               Joel Rosario                           Dallas Stewart                  1:43.74
2015            Cassatt                                 Kerwin Clark                         Larry Jones                       1:44.96
2014            Rose to Gold                        Jesus Rios                              Sal Santoro                       1:43.87
2013            Joyful Victory                      Rosie Napravnik                    Larry Jones                       1:42.30
 
Four Additional Stakes Set for Saturday, January 25
In addition to the Houston Ladies Classic, four additional stakes will be contested on the Houston Racing Festival card. Twelve turf specialists will vie in the Listed $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup, at the distance of one and one-half miles. Competitive fields were also drawn in the $100,000 Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile for three-year-olds.  The remaining stakes include the $75,000 Bara Lass and $75,000 Gexa Groovy Stakes featuring accredited Texas-bred 3-year-olds competing at six furlongs on the main track. 
 
Press releases on each of the Houston Racing Festival Stakes will be forthcoming.
 
Houston Racing Festival - NTRA National Horseplayers Championship Contest  
Sam Houston Race Park will host the 2nd annual Houston Betting Championship on Saturday, January 25. The handicapping contest, offered exclusively on-site, will feature a live money format with a buy-in of $1,500.  There is no entry fee associated with the cost, as the entire $1,500 will be used as the contestant’s bankroll. Contestants will be required to wager at least $750 on the Sam Houston Race Park live card, which will feature the Grade 3,$300,000 Houston Ladies Classic and the Listed $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup. Contestants are eligible to wager the remaining $750 in their original bankroll on Sam Houston or select races from Gulfstream Park or Oaklawn Park on that afternoon. 
 
Four NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) Seats will be awarded to the top horseplayers to compete in the  prestigious final in Las Vegas (either 2025 or 2026). For further information on the Houston Betting Championship , contact Mike Steindler at [email protected].

  
About Sam Houston Race Park
Sam Houston Race Park is Houston’s premier racing and entertainment facility, located just 15 miles northwest of downtown Houston. Owned by Penn Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ – PENN), the racetrack, which opened in 1994, offers a variety of attractions for businesses, group outings and families during racing and the off-season. The track is best known for its award-winning dining and features multiple areas for fans looking for casual to upscale dining options including its Winner’s Circle Restaurant, Jockey Club, Luxury Suites and Pavilion Centre. For more information or tickets to upcoming live racing, concerts and events, please visit www.shrp.com or follow on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or YouTube.  
 
Photos:  Jack Coady Photography