Stickney, IL — Often the road to a successful showing in a major race isn’t a smooth. Such was the case for Fox Valley Tessa, the 2023 Plum Peachy champion. In fact, it was nip and tuck that the 3-year-old ICF filly would even make Hawthorne’s Night of Champions final.
The Time To Roll filly began her sophomore campaign for then trainer Steve Searle picking up purse checks but going winless in her first 10 seasonal starts. However, the daughter of the Art Major mare She’s D Bomb captured the first leg of the Plum Peachy series and its 50 series bonus points in early October and looked like a cinch to be in the filly stakes final.
Nevertheless, she didn’t race against for over a month and almost missed the richest race in her division.
“At the time, we had a lot of sickness going on in our barn,” said Searle, who, going into the Night of Champions, shared ownership of Fox Valley Tessa, a $10,000 yearling buy, with B Code, James Nellinger and Gretchen Barnett.
“Fox Valley Nessa was one of my horses who got sick,” continued Searle. “I thought she got over her sickness in time for the second Plum Peachy leg, but a couple days before her start she did some coughing. While a $20,000 purse is nice money, the welfare of the filly is way more important, so I scratched her.
“That meant that she had to qualify again, and she did nicely (in 1:55.2) one week before the Night of Champions. In the final, she got a nice drive from Wyatt (Avenatti) and won. It was only her second win of the year, but, all of a sudden, she had over $112,000 on her card.”
Keeping a horse healthy throughout the racing season can be a worrisome and difficult task, especially with all the traveling Illinois horsepeople had to do last year.
“We all had to do a lot of shipping,” continued Searle. “It seemed every week we were in a different barn. Keeping track of all the medicine for our horses’ needs isn’t an easy task, but my wife Debbie has done a terrific job of doing it.”
Two weeks after her Night of Champions victory, Fox Valley Tessa was acquired by the Amy and Kyle Husted stable and is currently competing at Woodbine Mohawk Park with the barn’s other Illinois-breds, such as Fox Valley Landen, Chickabell, Doctor Cruise and Fox Valley Tatum.
Fox Valley Tessa chalked up a pair of triumphs for the Husteds in last month’s Woodbine Niagara series before finishing fifth in the $25,000 final.
The mare has made over $16,000 in her seven starts for Husted Racing LLC, John Schwarz Jr., and Wilson and Scott Rigg.