(Thursday, October 27, 2005) - The first stakes of the Sam Houston Race Park Thoroughbred season is the $40,000 Houston Chronicle Stakes which will be run on Saturday, October 29, 2005. The mile-and-one-sixteenth stakes for fillies and mares will be contested over the Connally Turf Course.

The entry of Paz Ciudadana and Voz De Colegiala, has been installed as the 9-5 morning line favorite in the ten-horse field. Paz Ciudadana, a Chilean-bred 5-year-old, has won her last three for trainer Steve Asmussen, with her most recent victory in the $40,000 Corncopia Handicap at Louisiana Downs on October 9. She will be ridden by Glen Murphy. Both mares are owned by prominent Texas oilman and Thoroughbred owner, Nelson Bunker Hunt.

Murphy, who was the leading rider at Sam Houston Race Park in the 1999/2000 Thoroughbred meeting, looks forward to riding in the first stakes of the season.

“I have never ridden either of the fillies, but both look really nice,” said the 37-year-old jockey. “This is a great turf course; one of the best in the country. I had a win on the course last April and look forward to the stakes on Saturday.”

Chitchat Chitchat, a 5-year-old daughter of Arch, is 7-2 on the morning line. She will be shipped in from Louisiana where she has made her last three starts in stakes company for trainer Patrick Mouton. Two-time Sam Houston Race Park leading rider, Don Simington, has the mount. Rose Hunter, who ran second to Paz Ciudadana in the Corncopia Handicap, will also compete in the Houston Chronicle Stakes. The 4-year-old filly is trained by Tony Richey and will be ridden by Lonnie Meche.

Sam Houston Race Park will simulcast the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships from Belmont Park on Saturday. Gates will open at 9:00 a.m. with the first Sam Houston Race Park live race set for 4:15 p.m. The simulcast of the $4.6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic will take place at 4:35 p.m. with the continuation of the Sam Houston Race Park live card to follow. Post time for the Houston Chronicle Stakes is set for 7:57 p.m.