January 22, 2018 — Janice and Barry Sather have a long history with Alberta Quarter Horse Racing. It was over 40 years ago that they began their involvement with the industry. As Janice says: “We have had a lot of horses in this time-some were fast and memorable; others slow and frustrating to run”.
In 2018, their champion 2 year old filly SINGLES CRUISE, was both fast and memorable. Singles Cruise was purchased out of the Heritage Place Yearling Sale in the fall of 2017. Janice and Barry were looking for fillies sired by Favorite Cartel, and they purchased 2 daughters that came from the ranch of Dr. Steve Burns.
Family rivalry ensued and Barry got first choice as to which filly would be the best. He chose the other filly, Status Symbol. Janice got Singles Cruise, or Santana, as she is called in the barn.
Singles Cruise was an easy filly to train. She had her first win of the year in her second start, Jerry Stojan Memorial trials. Several weeks later she won the final of the Jerry Stojan Memorial, wire to wire, her first stakes win. After a 3rd place finish in the trials of the Evergreen Park AQHA John Deere Juvenile trials, Singles cruise came back and earned $19,466 USD when she won the final, running a SI95. Singles Cruise’s next race was the trial for the Canada Cup Futurity, which she again won.
The feature race of the 2018 AQHRA 2 year old racing season was next up, the Restricted Grade 3 Canada Cup Futurity. Singles Cruise again prevailed, earned $33,507 and became a graded stakes winner. Barry and Janice made the decision to ship Singles Cruise to California for the AQHA challenge finals, against some top 2 year olds. After a rough trip, she finished 5th, in a very close finish.
Singles Cruise’s 2018 Racing Record:
9 starts, 5 wins and 1 3rd. She earned $59,741 USD.
Look for Singles Cruise in 2019!
Janice explains their involvement in quarter horse racing:
“It’s never all about the money, trophies or awards; but it’s about the lifelong people you meet and friendshipsyou have through racing. Most of our friends are from the racetrack and they have given us laughter, happy times, camaraderie and life long memories”.