Houston, Texas (January 27, 2008) - The $100,000 MAXXAM Gold Cup, Sam Houston Race Park’s signature racing and social event of the Thoroughbred season, was held on Saturday, January 26, 2008. Racing highlights for the evening included the 15th running of the $100,000 MAXXAM Gold Cup presented by Woodford Reserve, which was won by four-year old chestnut colt Reporting For Duty ($6.40) with a time of 1:52:33. The horse, jockeyed by Luis Quinonez and trained by Steve Asmussen, won by 4 3/4 lengths after taking command in midstretch of the 1 1/8 mile dirt contest.

“He would have been a great three-year-old had he not hurt his eye,” owner Bob Zollars said. “But he has come back strong and won his last two, so we are very pleased with him.”

Cathy and Bob Zollars, the owners of the colt, were thrilled with their win and added that it made the celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary that much more special.

Final placement for the race was Reporting for Duty, Red Rock Creek (also trained by Steve Asmussen), Goosey Moose (trained by Danny Pish), Tap Dancing Mauk, Honest Man, and Gold Wonder. The field for the stakes race included a total of six horses.

The second stakes race of the evening, the $50,000 Sam Houston Distaff, was awarded to Buy The Barrel ($4.20), who raced to victory by a margin of 8 1/2 lengths along the 1 1/16 length dirt course in a final time of 1:45:46. The four-year old filly is trained by J. Larry Jones and was ridden by jockey Gabriel Saez.

Jones was pleased with the horse’s performance and fared well for the evening as he had another horse running in the MAXXAM Gold Cup stakes race, Honest Man, who finished fifth.

“We had run the filly awfully quick when we got to Fair Grounds. She was so knocked out from the trip (to Delaware),” said Jones. “So we gave her time to get readjusted and she ran really nice.”

The Sam Houston Distaff included a field of 12 horses. Bold Angel, owned by Bob McNair’s Stonerside Stable, finished second, with Game for More checking in third.