Canterbury Park in Minnesota might be a long way from Texas and Oklahoma, but Texas stallion Primal Storm and Oklahoma stallion Latent Heat both had impressive 2-year-old winners there on Friday night. Both were making their first career start.
In the fourth race of the night, Texas-bred Pretty Storm, a daughter of Primal Storm, dug in gamely to win a $25,000 maiden special weight contest over heavily favored Ciaran’s Prize. Pretty Storm, bred by Keith Asmussen, trained by Cash Asmussen and owned by Monarch Thoroughbreds LLC, prevailed by 1 ¼ lengths and it was another 13 ¾ lengths back to the third-place finisher.
Pretty Storm is the third juvenile winner from as many starters this year for Primal Storm, a Grade 3-winning stallion standing at Asmussen Horse Center in Laredo, Texas.
Later in the same card, Rake Farms LLC’s homebred Sky and Sea, a Minnesota-bred filly by Oklahoma stallion Latent Heat, romped to an impressive 15 ¾-length victory for trainer Bernell Rhone. The first-time starter earned $18,000 for winning the $30,000 special weight race for Minnesota-breds.
Latent Heat, a Grade 1 winner by Maria’s Mon, stands at River Oaks Farms Inc. in Sulphur, Oklahoma. Latent Heat is currently second on the overall Oklahoma leading sire list this year by earnings, behind only Read the Footnotes, who also stands at River Oaks.