HOBBS, NM—SEPTEMBER 27, 2014—The two longest shots finished first and second in the Lubbock Stakes on Saturday at Zia Park. Fire Burning won the 400-yard, $55,000 Grade 3 stakes race for fillies and mares at 23-1 odds by three-quarters of a length over 28-1 Stel Surprise.

Ridden by Joel Martinez Jr. for trainer Alfredo Gomez and owner Elite Oilfield Services, Fire Burning clocked 400 yards in 19.575 seconds for her first stakes victory. After racing in Florida and Oklahoma at the beginning of the year, the 3-year-old bay filly sired by Valiant Hero is now two-for-two since returning to New Mexico. She won an allowance race at Ruidoso Downs in August prior to her Lubbock Stakes victory.

Blazin Farm, Stonechase Stables and Matt Witman bred Fire Burning in Oklahoma from the champion daughter of This Snow Is Royal—Blazin Fire. Her record stands at (17) 3-1-5 with earnings of nearly $75,000. She rewarded backers with a $49.00 win ticket payoff.

Stel Surprise, a $2,500 claim at Los Alamitos Race Course in Southern California in February, has had a new lease on life since joining the barn of trainer Uriel Delgado. The 3-year-old bay filly sired by Stel Corona was a 35-1 upset winner of the Rocky Mountain Bonus Challenge Championship at Arapahoe Park in Colorado in August. That victory represented the first career stakes success for jockey Alfredo Triana Jr, who was back aboard on Saturday.

Another long-shot, Stel Surprise (28-1) finished second for owner Uriel Mata Rivas. Alfredo Triana, Jr. rode the Stel Corona filly for trainer Uriel Delgado.

Uriel Mata Rivas owns the Martha Wells California-bred from the Make It Anywhere mare Making Surprise, Stel Surprise earned $12,100 for her effort.

Zoomin Away finished a head back in the show position for owner 21 Partnership and trainer Gene Burden. Joe Badilla, Jr. was aboard the Azoom 6-year-old mare out of Elegant Dasher, by First Down Dash. Bred in Texas by Gene Voss, Zoomin Away picked up $5,500 for her third place effort. She was third in the $200,000 All American Gold Cup(G1) in her last start.

Pajarita Sita, a stablemate of Zoomin Away trained by Burden and owned by 21 Partnership, was fourth with Salvador Martinez aboard. Alis Jumpn, the 6-5 favorite, finished fifth, ending her four-race win streak. Send Me a Candy Tree, the defending champion in the Lubbock Stakes, had been entered but was scratched.

Fire Burning was the first double-digit odds winner of the Lubbock Stakes since Alibis Malady was victorious at 16-1 in the first running of the Lubbock Stakes on October 9, 2005, during Zia Park’s inaugural week of racing.