Retama Park: Texas Bling back on turf for Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Stakes

In the year since Texas Bling last raced at Retama Park near San Antonio, much has happened in his career. He won the $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington at 128-1, was edged by Will Take Charge in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn, and took on some of his division’s best in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.

Texas Bling comes full circle Saturday night, when he returns to his home state for Retama’s $50,000 Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up bred in Texas is one of two stakes on the card. The $50,000 Fiesta Mile for statebred fillies and mares on turf drew a full field of 12 led by Lasting Bubbles. The races complement the Hall of Fame inductions of Arthur Seeligson Jr., Glenn Blodgett, Tami Purcell Burklund, Hadif, Dashingly, and Kontiki.

Texas Bling last raced at Retama in November 2012 and finished a deceptively good sixth in the $75,000 El Joven, won by eventual Grade 1 winner Admiral Kitten. The race was Texas Bling’s last on grass, a surface he had raced over regularly at 2.

“The colt did break his maiden on the turf,” said Danele Durham, who trains Texas Bling for Hall’s Family Trust. “And he ran on the surface in the El Joven. He was beaten three lengths, and he got stuck down there on the rail in that race. I think he liked the turf last year. He did like the turf surface at Retama.”

Texas Bling was moved to dirt for the Springboard Mile in December and rallied to defeat Will Take Charge. The pair met again at Oaklawn in January, with Will Take Charge catching Texas Bling for a neck win in the Smarty Jones.

Will Take Charge would go on to win the Travers and finish second in Breeders’ Cup Classic, while Texas Bling was freshened following his eighth-place finish in the Arkansas Derby. He made his comeback in September and was seventh in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby. In his final prep for Saturday, Texas Bling worked five furlongs in 1:00 at Remington on Nov. 7.

“He’s training like a horse that is moving upward,” Durham said.

Texas Bling will break from post 6 under Fabio Arguello Jr.

“There are a couple of horses that are the speed in the race, and hopefully we can relax behind them and get a nice little trip,” Durham said.

Texas Bling is part of an 11-horse field that includes Quiet Acceleration, the race’s most accomplished turf runner, with six victories on grass; Tahoka, who is seeking his fourth straight win and his first on turf; and Safe Range and Texas Air, the first and second finishers in a highly rated local optional claimer Oct. 5.

“It’s a very competitive race,” Durham said.