Woo hoo Pepper!!! Way to go girl! SO excited for her and her connections!! Awesome! 
Way to go Pepper! Rooting for 18 and a record to herself.
As an aside … Pepper is not alone at 15-0 although the other horse, a he, is chasing after win number 16 is a Paint … DRF 3-25-08
Got Country Grip, a paint horse who has won all 15 of his starts, will go for his 16th win Thursday night in an allowance race at Remington Park. He will start in the ninth, a 350-yard allowance for paints and Appaloosas, with G. R. Carter Jr. aboard for trainer Brandon Parum.
A bit more on the coverage of Got Country Grip who runs tonight towards history. Who knows maybe he’ll be the Dash For Cash of the paint sprinters …
Saratogian 3-27 “Obscure horse looking for history”
The first time Maddux saw the colt for which he traded, he wasn’t impressed.
“He was sickly looking and snotty-nosed,” Maddux recalled. “There was a 40 mph wind and snow on the ground, and I thought, ’What have I done?’ He looked rough.”
But soon enough, Got Country Grip began blossoming physically. Parum, by then operating in Oklahoma, came to pick up the horse at Maddux’s ranch and marveled at his growth.
The breaking process didn’t start smoothly, as the horse jumped over a 6-foot fence surrounding a pen. But Got Country Grip’s talent soon began showing, said Carter, who helped Parum break the horse.
“I told (Parum), ’You can get rid of all the rest of them and keep this one.’ It was obvious from the beginning that he was really a great horse,” Carter said. “But no one could predict the kind of success he’s had.”
Paint-horse racing, much like quarter horse racing, consists mainly of straightaway sprints, leaving little margin for error. A slow start — or any other minor mishap — usually dooms a horse to also-ran status.
But in a sport in which wins are measured in fractions of lengths and tenths or hundredths of a second, Got Country Grip has dominated. His two most recent wins came by 3 lengths and 1 3-4 lengths.
It’s a little like Golden Hare in the claimers and Peppers Pride in NM - they do their his jobs and exceptionally well no less. We’re not talk about running for $1M or in some huge graded stakes race but all three don’t know that and frankly fans shouldn’t care either when seeing a horse try his/her best.
As provided by a lurker who would like to see Got Country Grip try his hand in a point to point <a href=“http://www.texashorsetalk.com/GotGripStory.pdf”[/url">pdf July '07 “The Greatest Paint Horse Ever?”
Good luck to him and his connections tonight.
Sweet Sixteen - the paint racer did it!
AP 3-27-08 “Paint horse Got Country Grip wins 16th straight race”
The win at Remington Park on Thursday night tied Got Country Grip with four thoroughbreds, including two racing greats, 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation and North America’s leading money winner, Cigar.
Ridden by G.R. Carter, Got Country Grip stumbled at the start but recovered to beat Bust N Moves by three-quarters of a length, with Boy of Summer third.
Got Country Grip is 16-for-16 lifetime for trainer Brandon Parum and owner Jimmy Maddux of Weatherford, Texas. He went off at 1-5 odds and covered the 350 yards in 17.701 seconds, aided by a 20 mph tailwind.
Not his winning run, but a video of how convincingly he’s won before: youtube.com Got Country Grip from Nov 2007
Back to Pepper’s Pride - her next start will be April 26th!
Bloodhorse 4-12 “Peppers Pride Runs for Record at SunRay”
… plan to run the undisputed queen of New Mexico racing in the $75,000 Russell & Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs. Peppers Pride won her 15th successive race at Sunland Park March 23.
“It’s been something really special,” Marr, 40, said April 11 of the streak.
Marr reported Peppers Pride “is doing really good” since her last win, the $100,000 Sydney Valentini Handicap over state-breds at a mile, which was her first start in more than three months. Marr said Allen “is getting pretty nervous” as the record approaches while the trainer has been able to maintain an even approach. “He’s a little more excitable than I am,” he explained.
Not otherwise noted on the BB was the fact that “Got Country Grip” was nipped by a head at the final jump by Bust N Moves and so did not accomplish 17 wins in a row. However the upside is that his attempt yielded the largest crowd at Remington Park since 1989 at 12,901.
As for Peppers Pride going for 16 in a row to tie the North American record that attempt will be April 26.
in the $75,000 Russell & Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap at SunRay Park and Casino in Farmington, NM.
The 5-year-old mare will shoulder high weight of 127 pounds as she attempts to join Citation, Cigar, Mister Frisky and Hallowed Dreams in an exclusive circle of Thoroughbreds that have won 16 races in a row. Peppers Pride will spot her rivals between six and 14 pounds in the 6 1/2-furlong event. The race is contested around two turns.
The field:
$75,000 Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap
(Race 9, 5:27 p.m.), Fillies & Mares 3 & Up,
6 1/2 Furlongs
PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey
- Miss Possibility (NM), 116, Brian J. Theriot
- Charlie’s Pizzazz (NM), 113, Victor Escobar
- Rylie Cheyenne (NM), 114, David Wilder Essman
- Let the Musicbegin (NM), 118, Ricardo Jaime
- Pache Slew (NM), 118, Alfredo J. Juarez, Jr.
- Bossy Bush (NM), 121, Jorge M. Bourdieu << 4-0 last four starts
- Peppers Pride (NM), 127, Carlos D. Madeira
- Complete Pride (NM), 116, Quyet E. Bui
- Busy Little Pistol (NM), 115, Travis Wales
So exciting! Go Pepper go!!
She did it!!! Yay Pepper!!! :yes:
Awesome!
Kudos to her for what sounds like a rough trip - as equidaily lamented rightfully - there are no replays of her historic effort which is foolish.
ESPN 4-27 “Peppers Pride ties record with 16th straight win”
Peppers Pride overcame being soundly bumped in the first turn of the $75,000 Foutz Distaff Handicap at SunRay Park in Farmington, N.M. on Saturday to win her 16th straight race and tie the modern mark for consecutive victories by a North American-based Thoroughbred. She now shares the record with Cigar, Citation, Hallowed Dreams, and Mister Frisky.
Peppers Pride, who is undefeated, began her career in July 2005. She has raced exclusively in New Mexico-bred company, and won her 12th stakes race in the Foutz Distaff. Peppers Pride overcame a host of variables to get the victory, among them spotting her rivals between 6 and 11 pounds as the 127-pound highweight, and vanning 400 miles from Sunland Park for the race. Joel Marr, who trains Peppers Pride for her breeder, Joe Allen, said he felt “relieved” shortly after the mare reached the record on Saturday.
“She deserves to be where she is now, and she’ll be there forever,” Marr said. “She’s a tremendous athlete, and I’m glad we were the ones to help her along the way.”
Next up might be Lincoln Handicap at Ruidoso Downs on July 27.
Did a horse break down in that race?
[QUOTE=Barnfairy;3176673]
There is no indication of that in the chart.
Go Pep![/QUOTE]
fyi - Bossy Bush broke down past the wire and was euthanized after suffering a broken right front leg
Any updates on her training progress? Is she still scheduled for Ruidoso in July? I think I want to make a pilgrimage to watch the race… :yes:
I quit working in the racing industry and moved to Texas to work at a dressage barn…
…And now oddly enough, I have a connection, lol.
My boss’ life-long best friend… her husband owns (bred, etc.) Pepper’s Pride.
I can’t remember the date, but she did say her next start would be at Ruidoso. The day after her husband’s birthday - so hopefully I will be able to weasel my way to the party and thus the race 
She is throwing a party for my boss’ son Sunday, so I will have to ask when that race will be.
(((((she did mention a possible start at Lone Star. shhhh!))))))
[QUOTE=abrant;3236706]
My boss’ life-long best friend… her husband owns (bred, etc.) Pepper’s Pride.
I can’t remember the date, but she did say her next start would be at Ruidoso. The day after her husband’s birthday - so hopefully I will be able to weasel my way to the party and thus the race ;)[/QUOTE]
That is a pretty neat link and I hope you do get to see her make that historic attempt at the 17-consecutive wins. All indications are that it will be the $45000 Lincoln Handicap at Ruidoso Downs to be run July 27, 2008. This the same race she won last year making it her 11th straight.
The five-year old mare by Deser God now has lifetime earnings of $861,665.
Like Peppers Pride, Hallowed Dreams and Mister Frisky won the first 16 races of their careers to reach the record. Cigar and Citation put a 16-race win streak together in the midst of their careers.
Maybe Ruidoso Downs will promote the race like Remington Park did for Got Country Grip (a paint sprinter) in his failed attempt at 17 straight; it did result in record crowds.
Still no confirmation that she’ll run on the 27th of July and her connections won’t give the green light until a few days before, but all the signs are there that baring something odd she’ll try to break the record then
Las Cruses Sun/Associated Press July 14, 2008 “Mare will go for No. 17 at Ruidoso Downs”
Peppers Pride, a New Mexico-bred mare that has won 16 straight starts, is targeting a July 27 race at Ruidoso Downs to try for a record-setting 17th straight victory.
[b]“She’s doing good. She’s training good. Everything appears to be in order,” trainer Joel Marr said Monday in a telephone interview.
Marr cautioned that the decision to enter the 6-furlong Lincoln Handicap won’t be made until a few days before the race. He said it’s likely she’ll run but added that several factors, such as training and weather, could influence the decision. [/b]
“She won it last year and she’s always run good at the track,” Marr said. “We ran her previously at SunRay Park and this was the next logical place to run. It was either that or it would have been quite a while until the next race.”
Along with Peppers Pride, Citation, Cigar, Mister Frisky, Hallowed Dreams and Got Country Grip are the only other horses in North America to win 16 races in a row with a saddled jockey.
Got Country Grip lost by a head in Oklahoma City in April.
Carlos Madeira, who has been in the stirrups for all 16 Peppers Pride victories, will ride the mare again at Ruidoso Downs, where she has been training.
Asked what No. 17 would mean, he said it would be nice if, years from now, horse racing fans remembered Peppers Pride.
“Not so much for me or for Carlos or the owner, Joe Allen, but it would mean something for racing in the Southwest, for New Mexico,” Marr said. “Not so much for bragging rights, just something special for the horsemen around here.”
A bit on her dam/sire as well
Star-Telegram July 18, 2008 “Owner’s modesty could mean a record for his 5-year-old”
Allen bought Desert God, the sire of Peppers Pride, nine years ago from the University of Arizona. What he described as an “inexpensive” purchase has turned golden. Desert God, who never raced, is a half-brother to Better Than Honour, the dam of Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and Rags to Riches.
Allen bought Lady Pepper, the dam of Peppers Pride, for $1,000. Lady Pepper made her debut on opening day, 1989, at G. Rollie White Downs, the first racetrack to operate in Texas in 32 years. And she made all but nine of her 49 starts in Texas, most of them at Trinity Meadows in Willow Park.
But it’s not just the combination of modest provenance and gaudy record that distinguishes her. Or even her bankroll of $861,655. What she has as much as anything is her uncommon determination.
“She has a great desire to win,” said her trainer, Joel Marr. “She has some intangible thing that we didn’t teach her or give her — I don’t know what it is — but I know she has it.”
Here is the honesty:
“I can’t afford to go run just for the glory,” said her owner, Joseph Allen of Abilene. “And the purses are too good in New Mexico to run her anywhere else. We know there are a lot of horses out there she can’t beat, but there’s no reason to try to beat them.”
An owner who doesn’t see his horses as an extension of his ego is refreshing. Allen doesn’t sell chicken Kiev at his barbecue restaurant in Abilene, and he’s not going to send his New Mexico-bred mare to Saratoga.
Anyone hear any squeeling, moaning, whines? Nope but PP will be carrying significant weight for the undefeated gal. Just 1-lb less then Curlin did at Churchill for the Stephen Foster Handicap when he gave 11 pounds to his rival. Peppers Pride will be giving at least 11 lbs to her rivals.
DRF July 22, 2008 “Peppers Pride assigned 127 pounds for attempt at record”
The undefeated Peppers Pride has been assigned high weigh of 127 pounds for the $55,000 Lincoln Handicap at Ruidoso Downs on Sunday, a race in which she will attempt to win for the 17th time and eclipse North America’s modern mark for consecutive victories.
Peppers Pride equaled the record of 16 shared by Cigar, Citation, Hallowed Dreams, and Mister Frisky in her last start, when she won the $75,000 Foutz Distaff Handicap at SunRay Park in Farmington, N.M., on April 26.
The Lincoln Handicap is a six-furlong race for fillies and mares bred in New Mexico. Peppers Pride will likely spot each of her rivals at least 11 pounds, as there are four nominees weighted second on the list at 116 pounds. Entries for the race are to be taken on Thursday.
