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longtime supporters Sharon Alesia, Bran Jam Stables, Ciaglia Racing, LLC, and Rob Dyrdek, and her success has been gratifying and a great emotional reward for the group. Frank Alesia, husband to Sharon, died in February, and the filly, picked up out of the OBS April sale of two-year-olds in training for $175,000 by Eurton and Larry Zap – who “is always the one that brings the horses to” Eurton on a short-list – on behalf of Ciaglia, was named in his honor. “When Frank passed away,” Eurton says, “that was really hard to take. Sharon wanted to stay in the game just to kind of hold his name and his legacy out there. Everybody that met Frank always loved him. We bought a couple of horses at the sale, a filly and a colt, and we named them after Frank, one being Weemissfrankie and then the other one being Chickie Charms.” Her name Weemissfrankie, he says, is “because we do.” Contrary to the spelling of “wee,” the filly is “by no means small.” Eurton was on fire at the recently concluded Del Mar race meeting, with eight wins, seven seconds, and two thirds in 25
starts for a 68% in-the-frame figure. Weemissfrankie, who broke her maiden there, accounted for two of those wins, as did Mega Heat (Alesia/Ciaglia/Dyrdek), while another went to Mr. and Mrs. Marc C. Ferrell’s Joker Face, who under Mike Smith won the “Battle of the Exes” match race between Smith and Chantal Sutherland. Grade 1-placed She’s Cheeky, owned by Alesia, Bran Jan, and Ciaglia, finished second in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap. This Del Mar season was a far cry from Eurton’s 2010 meet, when he was seriously savaged by one of his own horses who dumped his rider on the track then grabbed Eurton by his back off his pony. A California native who has been married to Lisa for 27 years, Eurton was raised by his father, who loved racing and would take his son with him to the track. He decided at 15 he wanted to be a rider, but had to wait until he was 16 before Rex Ellsworth’s jockey school in Chino could accept him. That was also the age when he discovered that his stepfather, Steve Ippolito, was a trainer, and he went to work for him. “We got along really
well, me and Steve,” he says. “He kind of took me on as his son; my respect for Steve is high.” Eurton rode professionally from 19791981, winning, he says, “maybe a bit over a hundred races, or 125-ish. That number always seems to get higher as years go on.” He rode freelance for Bobby Frankel before striking out as a trainer in 1985, hooking up with Frank Alesia around 1989. Through October 10, the Eurton stable has 23 wins from 115 races. He has had a good start to the Santa Anita meeting, with Weemissfrankie’s Oak Leaf victory and an allowance won Mega Heat, the gelding’s third win in his last three starts. Eurton’s best horses prior to Weemissfrankie have been stakes winners Masterpiece (Arg), Cee Dreams, and Star Nicholas. She’s Cheeky has been knocking on the door in graded stakes races and may yet give the 30-horse stable another boost. Of course, the ultimate would be seeing Weemissfrankie win the Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 4. n
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