Dream Come True for the Sarinanas

Dac (Distorted Humor) gave owners Jose and Amanda Sarinana their first stakes winner Saturday when the 4-year-old gelding took Turfway Park's Prairie Bayou S. The stakes win was a career highlight for both Dac and the Sarinanas. Jose Sarinana, who has worked as the farm manager for the Wertheimers for five years, believed Dac just needed time to develop.

“He was more of a gift than a purchase,” Sarinana said of how he acquired Dac. “He was hurt as a weanling and the Wertheimers had him. He just needed time. He went to Florida where they started him under saddle, but he still needed about six months. I asked if I could come up with some money to take him, and they gave him to me.”

Sarinana gave Dac time to develop as a 2-year-old and planned on starting him during his 3-year-old season. His wife, Amanda, worked Dac under saddle and the chestnut was ready for his debut in November of last year, but bucked a shin before his final work.

“We could race him, but I thought it would be better to put him away for a few months until the spring and start him at Turfway,” Sarinana said.

When Dac debuted at Turfway in March, he was third and graduated at Indiana Downs July 28. He returned to the winner's circle in a turfy allowance there Oct. 13 and was runner-up in a Churchill optional claimer Nov. 8 and fourth in the GIII River City H. Nov. 26.

“It was an amazing feeling,” Sarinana said of his first stakes win. “It's a dream come true. Out of all the people in this business, I only have one horse and I am lucky enough to have a stakes horse.”