Smoken Wicked 1st Stakes Winner for Bobby's Wicked One
Smoked Wicked with Colby Hernandez aboard wins the 34th running of the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges, Jr.
Valene Farms' Smoken Wicked became the first stakes winner for first-crop stallion Bobby's Wicked One in scoring a two-length victory over Hay Jude in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Stakes Dec. 14 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The 2-year-old's triumph gave Dallas Stewart, 65, his 1,000th career training victory.
"It's a special win for special people," Stewart said. "I'm very fortunate to train for great people. I want to thank everyone who I ever trained any horse for—that they gave me a chance. That's what it's all about."
Smoken Wicked, third in the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) this summer and later fourth in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course and in the Champagne Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack, won for the third time in seven starts. His earlier victories had come against maidens at Evangeline Downs and in a Nov. 2 allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs.
He settled just off the pace Saturday before taking command in the stretch. He ran six furlongs on a fast track in 1:10.43 under Colby Hernandez.
Bobby's Wicked One, a 9-year-old son of Speightstown bred in Kentucky by Ramona Bass out of the winning Ghostzapper daughter Wicked Charm , is a graded stakes-winning sprinter who also placed at the grade 1 level. He won six races and $547,673 before entering stud in 2021 in Louisiana. He stands for a $3,500 fee next year at LACER in Sunset, La.