Racing


Viva Le Don Powers Home in $30,000 Tower of the Americas Stakes at Retama
Viva Le Don, under jockey Jose Vega, winning the $30,000 Tower of the Americas Stakes Saturday night at Retama Park.

© Coady Photography
Viva Le Don Powers Home in $30,000 Tower of the Americas Stakes at Retama

SELMA, TX – JULY 4, 2020 - Viva Le Don added another stakes win to his record with a strong performance in the $30,000 Tower of the Americas Stakes at Retama on Saturday night. Jose Vega guided Viva Le Don ($4.60)to victory in 27.092 for the 550-yard stake and earned a 108 speed index.

The 4-year-old Rock Solid Jess gelding is trained by Tammy Kay Johnson and is owned by Rockin J Running Horses. He was bred in Texas by Jack Manning and Tammy Johnson, out of Viva Arriba, by Pyc Paint Your Wagon.

The winning connections of Rockin J Running Horses and trainer Tammy Kay Johnson (left) accept the Tower Of The Americas Stakes trophy Saturday night at Retama Park.
© Coady Photography

Viva Le Don is now a multiple stakes winner and is also multiple graded stakes placed. He has four wins in 18 starts and career earnings of $268,987.

Prior to the Tower of the Americas start, he was third in the Remington Park Bank of America Championship Challenge (G2). He was second in the Heritage Place Derby (G3) in 2019 and qualified to the Dash For Cash Derby (G2) and Texas Classic Derby (G2) at Lone Star in the fall. His first stakes win came as a 2-year-old in the Black Gold 350 Championship Futurity at Will Rogers.

Five Bar Jewel and Victor Urieta, Jr. could not catch the winner but cleared the field to finish second for trainer Alonso Neri and owner Jose Guzman.

Five Bar Jewel is a 4-year-old son of Five Bar Cartel. Bred in Texas by Richard and Janelle Simon, he is out of First Down Hemp, by First Down Jewel.

Though this was the first time Five Bar Jewel had hit the board in a stakes race, he qualified to the LQHBA Louisiana Million Futurity (RG1) at Evangeline in 2018. He has three wins in 12 starts and $76,860.

Leading the rest of the field for third was Jax Louisiana Game and jockey Lucas Constantin. Jax Louisiana Game is a 6-year-old Texas-bred son of The Louisiana Cartel, trained by Leon Bard and owned by Reta Hamilton. He was bred by Richard King, out of the Game Patriot mare Thunder Got Game.

Jax Louisiana Game was second in the Tower of the Americas Stakes last year and followed up that performance with a win in the TQHA 550 Stakes (RG3). He has two wins in 13 starts and has earned $42,605.

Completing the field were Salados Man, Favorite Kool Cartel, Silver City Lights, Th Maverick, Jess C Me Zoom and Hiclass Ice. Aces Over Five was scratched.