The well-traveled Fly Donna Fly looks for a graded stakes win in the $100,000 John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship(G2).

© Coady Photography

Q-RACING—OCTOBER 19, 2021—A California-bred owned by a Kansas man punched her ticket in Iowa for the big dance in New Mexico back in August – the dance being the John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship (G2), and the horse being Fly Donna Fly, a daughter of freshman sire Fly Thru The Fire.

Fly Donna Fly races for Romualdo Lopez’s Green D Ranch LLC of Wichita, Kansas. She was bred by leading breeder Dr. Steve Burns of Menifee, California, and she looks to debut in graded stakes company on October 23 during the Bank of America Challenge Championship at The Downs at Albuquerque.

Lopez operates his ranch in Kansas, and while his family had horses when he was growing up, he got into racehorses only about seven years ago. He now has a handful of racehorses, including a couple broodmares. He bought the filly at the 2020 Heritage Place Fall Yearling Sale.

“She had good conformation,” Lopez said on what drew him to the yearling filly. “We were looking at other horses, and I just bought her at the last minute. It was one of those things – when you see it, you just like it and have a feeling. She has been a good horse for us.”

Her sire, Fly Thru The Fire, was a stakes winner and earned $144,125 during his racing career. A son of Walk Thru Fire and out of Babe On The Fly, she is among his first crop to race; he has 21 winners from 47 starters and earners of almost $280,000.

Her dam, Lidonna Madonna, was a race winner, who has produced two winners from two starters. Her dam, Madonna Effort, has produced runners that have earned in excess of $815,000, including Grade 1-placed runner Smokey Stone.

Fly Donna Fly made her race debut in March at Remington Park, finishing second in an Oklahoma Futurity trial. She lit the board in every one of her next three starts, but a win eluded her as she was not breaking fast enough.

That all changed in the August 15, $50,210 John Deere Prairie Meadows Juvenile Challenge. Breaking from Post 7, she rocketed out of the gates and held to win by a nose, becoming a stakes winner.

“She always closed at the end, but she wasn’t breaking that good,” trainer Jose C. Aguilera said. “In that race, she broke really good, and she won.” Her trainer describes her as an incredibly smart horse.

“I think if we get the same break as that day, we have a decent shot,” Aguilera said.

Fly Donna Fly enters the Challenge Championships having lit the board in 84 percent of her starts. Her connections look forward to watching her run on October 23.

Look for complete coverage of the Bank of America Challenge Championships at AQHA's website and on racing social media. If you can't attend the races live at The Downs at Albuquerque on October 23, watch on Q-Racing Video (subscription required)!