(Grand Prairie, Texas - Thursday, September 29, 2016) - The best way to spend the first day of October is watching the American Quarter horses race at Lone Star Park! As the track starts the third weekend of racing of the Fall Meeting of Champions, Saturday, October 1 is one of the best of cards of the meet. Three stakes are on tap, with the 20th running of the Grade 1 $75,000 Refrigerator Handicap for three-year-olds & up at 440 yards receiving top billing. Also featured are two regional Bank of America Challenge races - the seventh runnings of both the AQHA Distance Challenge for three-year-olds & up at 870 yards, and the Merial Distaff Challenge for fillies & mares, three-year-olds & up at 400 yards. Those included, a total of 10 races are carded. General admission is $5 and general parking is free. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. First race post time 6:35 p.m.

The Grade 1 Refrigerator has drawn an impressive field, with multiple stakes winners, a multiple Grade 1 winner and a World Champion. How can you not be excited about that? From the inside post is morning line favorite Jessies First Down. The five-year-old gelding by Fdd Dynasty is owned by Ted G. Abrams and trained by current national leader in both most wins and most money earned categories, Judd Kearl. With his great connections, he has bankrolled $289,157 from a career record of 24-7-10-1. In his most recent outing, he placed in the Grade 1 All-American Gold Cup at Ruidoso in September, and in May, won the Grade 2 Sam Houston Classic. He will be ridden by Jose Amador Alvarez.

World Champion of 2014, Jrc Callas First, will break from the outside post. Trained by Brian Stroud, who he also owns in partnership with his wife Dana, the six-year-old gelding by Winners Award hasn't won since last April, when he was victorious in the Grade 2 Sam Houston Championship Challenge. He's had two starts since, the Grade 1 Remington Park Invitational, finishing seventh, and the Grade 3 Miss Polly Classic at Delta Downs, placing fifth. He had troubled starts in both. A winner of $603,477 from a record of 29-17-2-3, he likes this track. His record at Lone Star Park is 5-3-1-0, plus he won the 2014 edition of the Refrigerator here. Jockey Esgar Ramirez has the call.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Dashin Brown Streak is looking for his first win this year. After a sixth place finish in last year's edition of this race, he was third in the Champion of Champions last December at Los Alamitos.

Scheduled as the ninth on the 10-race card, post time for the Grade 1 Refrigerator Handicap is 10:03 p.m.

The field for the Refrigerator with jockey and morning line odds beginning with post position 1 is:

Jessies First Down - Jose Alvarez, 6-5
Bar Struck - Luis Vivanco, 20-1
Kw Cowboy - Francisco Calderon, 12-1
If I Were Famous - Gaspar Garcia, 20-1
Red Corona Warrior - Noe Villatoro, 8-1
Rockin Disco - Ivan Carnero, 15-1
Dashin Brown Streak - Joe Badilla, Jr., 6-1
Poker Chip 831 - Ricky Ramirez, 15-1
Politicaly Correct - Manuel Gutierrez, 4-1
Jrc Callas First - Esgar Ramirez, 15-1

AQHA Wrangler Racing Ace Jennifer Hancock Returns Saturday

Lone Star Park is excited to welcome AQHA Wrangler Racing Ace Jennifer Hancock back to the track! She will be co-hosting a free handicapping seminar with Lone Star Park track handicapper Rick Lee at 5:30 p.m. Additionally, she will be on-hand throughout the evening with expert analysis of all of the races, including the Merial Distaff Challenge, The AQHA Distance Challenge and the Grade 1 $75,000 Refrigerator Handicap. A free tip sheet and handicapping materials will be available, so be sure to stop by the Wrangler Racing Ace table on the first level of the grandstand.

Around the Track: With the first two weeks of racing in the books, jockey Luis Vivanco is the leader with eight wins. Manuel Gutierrez and Ricky Ramirez are tied with six each. Angel Sanchez is the leading trainer with seven wins over Trey Wood, who is just one win shy of sharing the top spot with Sanchez.