A Stoli Mate
4-Year-Old Gelding
(Stoli - A Streakin Mate by Streakin La Jolla)

Qualified by winning the Los Alamitos Winter Championship

Lifetime Record: 19-7-3-1, $315,136 2008 Record: 2-2-0-0, $103,176

It's a good thing for A Stoli Mate that there were three weeks in between the trials and the final to the Grade 1 $237,800 Los Alamitos Winter Championship. Otherwise, it's likely that he would not have been able to compete in the final due to an abscess in his front left foot. The extra week between races made all the difference for the Stoli gelding, as his foot healed perfectly thanks to the work of veterinarian Rick Overly. With the abscess out of the way, A Stoli Mate delivered one of the best performances of his career, winning the Winter Championship on February 23rd in a stakes record time of :19.34 over a wet fast track. He now joins 2002 Co-World Champion Whosleavingwho as the only horses to sweep the Los Alamitos Winter Derby and Winter Championship.

Owner of the 400-yard track record at Los Alamitos until Little Bit Of Baja broke it earlier this year, A Stoli Mate shattered the previous Winter Championship mark of :19.47 set by Gold Medal Jess in 2006. Following the Winter Championship, A Stoli Mate had surgery to remove chips from his knee. Idle since that victory, he will be making his first start in nearly ten months in this year's Champion Of Champions. A Stoli Mate was purchased for $11,200 at the 2005 Eclipse Sale, has now captured 7 of 19 lifetime starts with earnings of $315,136. His sire finished third in the Champion of Champions.

Trainer Felipe Quintero, 25, is enjoying the best year of his brief training career, highlighted by having two horses in the prestigious Champion of Champions in A Stoli Mate and Little Bit Of Baja. Earlier this year, Quintero saddled the winners of three of the trials to the Los Alamitos Super Derby in Fighter On Fire, My Lady First and Magic Show Czech. "The one word to describe the night of the Super Derby trials would be 'perfect'," said Quintero. "I was able to qualify four horses to the final and that was unbelievable." Quintero's most important results this year have included Little Bit Of Baja's victory in the track record clocking of :19.27 at 400 yards in the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials, and also Budj's second place finish in the Bank of America California Challenge. Quintero also handles Kindergarten Futurity finalist Irenes Choice. It was the 2-year-old sprinter Irenes Choice that brought Felipe Quintero Jr. back into the spotlight earlier this year. At the time, the 25-year-old and his father, Felipe Sr., had the filly in training for trainer Hector Jaime Hernandez and she went on to compete in the Kindergarten. Shortly after Quintero Jr. was selected to lead the barn formerly under the care of Adan Farias. The father and son duo had been out of racing and were focused instead on the restaurant business together. "I was the manager and bookkeeper of El Tapatio Mexican Grill along with my dad," said Felipe. "The restaurant industry is really hard work. In some ways horse racing is easier and it's a lot more fun for me because this is what I love to do. Racing is my passion. So my dad decided to sell the restaurant to my uncle, who now runs it, and we started focusing on racing again. It feels good to be back." It's been an outstanding year for Quintero and it could get better in the Champion of Champions.

Originally purchased by cousins Jesus Avila of Long Beach, California and Jesus Cuevas of Fresno Cuevas, A Stoli Mate was bred in Louisiana at Jumonville Farms. The "compadres" became partners at the encouragement of Avila, who grew up loving the sport. Cuevas, on the other hand, admits not knowing much about racing growing up in Michoacan, Mexico. "We bought our first horse for $16,000," Cuevas remembered. "And that did not pan out at all. The horse never even had a workout." Commenting on what went wrong, Avila simply said: "That horse just wasn't born to run." Cuevas could have packed it in right then and there but that's not his style. "I've never had a business venture go bad for me. I was going to make this work," he added. "He's just real stubborn," Avila added with a smile. "This time being stubborn was a good thing."

Avila and Cuevas have since leased A Stoli Mate to owner Sally Khamo, a new owner to the sport who now campaigns Queen Of The Derby, a winner of $67,162, and Satin Cooper, a winner of $24,859, plus four other Quarter Horses.