(Grand Prairie, Texas - Friday, October 22, 2010) - Weetona Stanley’s First Prize Leesa captured the fourth and final trial (Race 8) for the Texas Classic Derby in 21.325 seconds to be the fastest qualifier among the 32 competitors for the 440-yard distance over a sealed, fast track on Friday night at Lone Star Park.  The Grade 1, $367,649 Texas Classic Derby, for 3-year-olds, will be run on Saturday, Nov. 13, closing night of Lone Star Park’s 2010 Fall Meeting of Champions for American Quarter Horses.

First Prize Leesa, the sorrel daughter of Mr Jess Perry trained by Heath Reed, opened up an early lead under jockey Cody Jensen and held off the rest of the field to finish 1 ¼-lengths ahead of Dash Back Perry, the ninth overall qualifier.  With the win, First Prize Leesa earned a Speed Index of 99 and improved her career record to six wins from eight starts.

Bobby Cox’s Sinuous, who finished third in the Grade 1, $169,000 Dash For Cash Derby at Lone Star Park on Oct. 9, won the first trial (Race 5) in 21.377 seconds to qualify with the second fastest time.  Jockey Russel Hadley rode for trainer John Buchanan.  Richard Shearer’s First Corona Call, trained by Trey Wood and ridden by Ricky Ramirez, won the second trial (Race 6) in 21.418 seconds to finish as the third fastest qualifier.

Jockey Cody Jensen led all riders with three qualifiers, while Jimmy Brooks rode two of the top 10.  The only trainer with multiple qualifiers was Eddie Willis with two.

The complete list of the top 10 qualifiers (with time, jockey and trainer in parenthesis) for the Texas Classic Derby is:

First Prize Leesa (21.325 Cody Jensen Heath Reed)
Sinuous (21.377 Russel Hadley John Buchanan)
First Corona Call (21.418 Ricky Ramirez Trey Wood)
Deflowered (21.447 Jerry Yaokum Dwayne Gilbreath)
Gallant Corona (21.449 Cody Jensen Raul Rodriguez)
Whathaveigottado (21.452 Cody Jensen Paul Jones)
Streakin Down (21.463 Jimmy Brooks Eddie Willis)
Illegal Fireworks (21.502 Jimmy Brooks Eddie Willis)
Dash Back Perry (21.511 Saul Ramirez John Bassett)
Love Samba (21.635 G. R. Carter, Jr. Heath Taylor)