Bh Lisas Boy romps in Bank of American Emerald Championship Challenge

Bh Lisas Boy lowered his own track record for 440 yards Sunday while crushing eight rivals in the $72,090 Bank of American Emerald Championship Challenge at Emerald Downs. In winning the meeting’s biggest event for Quarter Horses, Bh Lisas Boy earned a berth in the $350,000 Challenge Championship final at Lone Star Park Nov. 7.

After breaking alertly under Javier Matias, Bh Lisas Boy built a commanding advantage through the first 200 yards and then was geared down late to win by 1 3/4 lengths, leaving the impression he could have gone faster. He was clocked in 21.376 seconds, easily bettering his previous track record of 21.492, set in a Championship Challenge qualifying trial Aug. 23.

Alota Action finished second, a half-length in front of Flyin Lion in third. Chicks Special Angel, the defending champion and 3-1 second favorite, never got involved from her inside post position and came home a distant seventh.

Owned and bred by trainer Bill Hoburg of Kennewick, Wash., Bh Lisas Boy won for the eighth time in 12 starts and earned $33,162, increasing his lifetime earnings to $76,746.

Bh Lisas Boy, a 3-year-old who broke his maiden in a $3,500 claiming race last year at Les Bois Park, now has stakes victories at four different tracks and is 5 for 5 with Matias riding.