Siblings put on a show in double derby wins

The lives and racing careers of Headturner and Jumpn Beduino will forever be linked.

First, the 3-year-old Quarter Horse half-siblings are out of the same dam, Imjumpn. Furthermore, they seem to peak on the racetrack at the same time. Jumpn Beduino and Headturner were first and second in the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity at Los Alamitos last October. Last weekend, they both won major derbies.

Headturner, a gelding by Check Him Out, won Friday s $214,400 El Primero Del Ano Derby. The following night, Jumpn Beduino, a filly by Chicks Beduino, won the $175,500 La Primera Del Ano Derby for fillies. Both started from post 9.

What are the chances of that happening, said Theresa DeNike, who co-owns Jumpn Beduino with her husband, Ed. A brother and sister winning derbies on back-to-back nights and from the same post position.

While it may seem illogical for half-siblings to be the same age, Quarter Horse breeders are allowed to register more than one foal from a mare during a breeding season. In such situations, mares frequently have their embryos transferred to surrogate mares.

The success of Headturner and Jumpn Bedunio is no surprise to co-breeder Blane Schvaneveldt, the legendary trainer.

Imjumpn was a heck of a mare, he said on Wednesday. She was a runner herself.

Imjumpn earned $56,495 and won the 2001 Aliso Viejo Handicap at Los Alamitos. She was a sister to the Grade 1 stakes winner Tac It Like a Man, and is out of Jumpin Tac Flash, the champion 2-year-old filly of 1993.

Schvaneveldt, and partner John Andreini, bred Imjumpn twice in recent breeding seasons before the mare died of founder in 2008.

I used to get two a year, Schvaneveldt said of the embryo-transfer process. Sometimes, maybe, we got three. It s hard to get more out of them unless you get them too late.

Schvaneveldt described Imjumpn s death as a helluva loss.

Both Headturner and Jumpn Beduino will run in major stakes at Los Alamitos later this year, and may meet again. Ed DeNike, who owns Jumpn Beduino, said the Governor s Cup Derby trials on July 16, is a possibility. The filly has won 5 of 8 starts and $267,825 for trainer Patricia Visscher

Headturner, who won the Los Alamitos Winter Derby in February, will be given a break during the rest of the spring and early summer. Owner Jose Ramon Sandoval said the PCQHRA Derby trials in September is Headturner s next goal.