Stute Brothers Square Off in B. Thoughtful Stakes

By DEBRA GINSBURG

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Apr. 27, 2002) -- Warren Stute is not going to let a minor stroke get in his way as he prepares to go into battle against his younger brother Mel in the $150,000 B. Thoughtful Stakes on the Cal Fed California Gold Rush card Sunday.

Warren is entering the state's 2001 sprint champion Go Go; Mel is going with multiple stakes winner Warren's Whistle. It should be quite a contest.

Eighty-year-old Warren has not come off cloud nine since winning the Godolphin Mile last month with Grey Memo. It was the biggest win of his 64 years as a trainer. Last week, however, he experienced some numbness in the little finger of his right hand and right leg and went for a checkup. Preliminary diagnosis revealed he had suffered a minor stroke, but he continues to put his Gold Rush contenders through their paces as he awaits his test results.

Warren saddled Grey Memo to win the Snow Chief Stakes on the inaugural Gold Rush card and he's excited to have Go Go back in action for this year's renewal of the B. Thoughtful. The 5-year-old daughter of Falstaff has not raced since August when she sustained a minor ankle injury, but she looks as good as ever since returning to the track in January.

Go Go won five of seven starts last year, four of them graded stakes, and bankrolled $547,280 for Alan, Paula and Roger Thomas of Costa Mesa, Calif.

One of four winners produced from the Plugged Nickle mare Key Mist, Go Go was bred by Chris Ray, a California Thoroughbred Breeders Association member who lives in Vancouver, Canada, and she was foaled at Myron and Jane Johnson's Rivendell Ranch in Fresno.

She went through the ring at the 1998 Del Mar Yearling Sale and was later purchased by the Thomases at the Barretts fall mixed sale in October. Her full sister sold for $165,000 at last year's Del Mar Sale.

Like Go Go, Mel's B. Thoughtful contender is also a Del Mar graduate. Bred by Robert Harmon and sired by South African Horse of the Year Wolf Power, Warren's Whistle was purchased by Patrick and Elizabeth Everard for $27,000 at the 1999 sale.
A dangerous stretch-running sprinter, the gray 4-year-old closed late to place in the Melair Stakes on last year's Gold Rush Card and the 2001 Cal Cup Distaff. She has four stakes victories and earnings of nearly $450,000, but hasn't captured a stakes since winning the Pio Pico at Fairplex Park last September.

Go Go and Warren's Whistle meet for the first time Sunday.