Connally dead-heaters Another Mystery, Fantasioso on course for rematch

Another Mystery and Fantasioso put on a show winning the Grade 3, $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup in a dead heat Sunday at Sam Houston Race Park and now appear headed for a rematch.

Both horses are candidates for the Grade 2, $350,000 Elkhorn over the same mile and a half distance on turf April 23 at Keeneland, their respective trainers said Tuesday.

Chris Block has Another Mystery wintering at Fair Grounds, while Ignacio Correas has Fantasioso based at Keeneland. Strong Tide, who finished a head behind the top two, has returned to Oaklawn Park, according to trainer Mike Lauer.

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“It was a fun race, the three horses how they finished,” Correas said. “It was thrilling. The last quarter was fast; everybody finished running. It was fun to watch.”

“It was really, really exciting,” said Block.

“Strong Tide ran a big race, got beat an inch and a half,” said Lauer.

Correas, who owns Fantasioso with Bloom Racing, has met the race’s namesake. Correas said that when he was 10 or 11, former Texas Gov. Connally, who died in 1993, came to his home in Argentina to meet with the late diplomat Alejandro Orfila, who was a close friend of Correas’s father.

“They came to the farm, spent the day at the farm,” Correas recalled. “We had a big barbecue. [Connally] was a very nice man.”

Fantasioso, who was bred in Argentina, is now back at Keeneland.

“He’ll take few days off,” Correas said. “We’ll see what we do. We most likely will wait for Keeneland, for the Elkhorn.”

Block said Another Mystery might have another start ahead of the Elkhorn.

“We’d like to find three-turn races for him,” Block said. “I believe the Elkhorn is probably the goal.”

Another Mystery is a Team Block homebred out of the late Ioya Two, who was a Grade 3 winner of more than $400,000 and a daughter of the Argentine-bred stallion Lord At War. She raced for Team Block, just like Another Mystery.

“Not only did Team Block have the momma, we had the grandmother, all the siblings,” Block said. “It makes it pretty special to have one that goes out there on the national scene and wins a race like that.”

Ioya Two also is the dam of Ioya Bigtime, who won a pair of Grade 3 races at a mile and a half on turf, the Stars and Stripes at Arlington and the Kentucky Cup Turf at Kentucky Downs.

Another Mystery is the last foal from Ioya Two.

“That makes it even more special,” said Block.

Strong Tide will run next at two or three turns, Lauer said Tuesday, although no decision has been made on the race.

“He seemed to come back fine,” Lauer said. “We’ll play it by ear.”

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Strong Tide set a track record for 1 3/16 miles at Oaklawn in his start prior to the Connally.

The Connally was part of the Houston Racing Festival of six stakes worth a total of $1 million. Sam Houston said it handled $5.9 million on the 11-race card, which was an all-sources record for the track, eclipsing the mark of $5.3 million on the corresponding card in 2021.