Slammed Gets Shot on World Stage in Filly & Mare Sprint

How do moments in time become legend?

The most memorable are crafted by those who stare down adversity, bold enough to take a shot in the dark.

Take a look at 4-year-old Slammed , a New Mexico-bred filly by an unproven stallion who suffered a serious setback as a juvenile when she injured her foot in a pasture accident.

Unraced at 2, the filly came back to thrive in her 3-year-old year, but this season returned even stronger. She won the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) at Keeneland last out, earning an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge program. 

Slammed will become only the second horse bred in New Mexico to make a start at the World Championships since its inception 38 years ago, joining 1996 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) runner Ricks Natural Star in the history books.

"Our chance of getting to the Breeders' Cup is pretty much slim to none... To actually bring a New Mexico (bred) there, there's no words to describe it," said co-breeder and trainer Todd Fincher.

The filly was bred in partnership with Fincher and Brad King out of the Roll Hennessy Roll mare Hennesey Smash . Fincher knows the family well as he trained the dam to an almost unbeaten career, finishing 7-0-0 from eight starts, with four of those wins coming in stakes company.

"She was outstanding, and a tough one to train. She had a lot of fight to her in every way. She would fight on the racetrack as well," Fincher said.

As for how Slammed measures up, Fincher said: "She's tough as nails. She's a true racehorse, and she'll run on grass, pavement, sand... I've never seen a surface that she didn't handle."

Barbara Coleman, who now owns Fincher's piece of Slammed, owned Hennesey Smash during her racing career. She decided to sell the mare along with a few others, and offered them to King and Fincher.

"She was wanting to get out of the breeding part of it, so she asked me and Todd if we were interested in buying a package of her mares and Hennesey Smash was in that," King said. "It didn't matter what else was in there. As long as she was in there, we wanted that package."

The mare was paired with Marking , who stood the 2022 season for $4,000 at Fred Alexander's A & A Ranch. After Slammed was foaled, she was raised at King's farm in Lubbock, Texas, and then sent to Fincher for breaking and training.

"Todd and I always joke around. I do the breeding and he'll do all the training. It's worked for a long time now," King said. "We've probably been together for 25 years or so now... He has every horse that I've got in training except for one.

"A lot of people say they are friends with their trainer; he and I truly are friends. We don't have to talk about horses all the time. I will say that's the majority of our conversations because we're both ate up with it."

WATCH: Owner/Breeder Brad King on Slammed 

The two friends decided to bring in additional partners on the filly when she was a yearling. Having already purchased several horses from King, which had quickly translated into luck on the track, it was a no-brainer for Suzanne and Stan Kirby.

"They offered us a third of her when she was a young yearling," Suzanne Kirby said. "Brad told us, 'This one is pretty special, we're going to keep her, we're not going to sell her, but we'll sell you a third of her.'

"We're so fortunate that we agreed to buy a third. I think every time Brad has offered, we've bought, because we've had very few bad ones."

It goes without saying that Slammed will certainly go down in the Kirbys' book as "special." This year marks their first trip to the World Championships. Kirby acknowledged the strength of this year's 13-horse field but despite the conditions, she believes in her filly. All of the connections do: because Marking is not a Breeders' Cup-nominated stallion, Slammed had to be nominated to race as a Horse of Racing Age for a $200,000 fee.

"If she gets out of that gate, she'll be hard to catch. She can also run from behind; she's run from behind at a mile. She's very talented and she has a great heart to win," Kirby said. "Some horses just don't have the heart to win. We had two horses that just loved second place; they were really talented horses but they loved second place. Slammed loves to win."

Keeping with the theme, this will also be Fincher's first opportunity to tackle some of the greatest horses across the world. The trainer will have two chances with Slammed, and his other entrant, Senor Buscador , who will run in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). 

"I've always set goals. I wanted to have some of the best horses and run with the best," Fincher said. "Obviously I want to achieve that but being located in New Mexico those opportunities just don't come by. To have not just one but two in the Breeders' Cup is unbelievable."

As the clock ticks down to Saturday morning, all of the connections eagerly await the opportunity to put New Mexico in the limelight.

The only piece of the partnership who will cheer on the filly from afar is 84-year-old Coleman. Her son Chris says his mother has lived and breathed racehorses since the mid '80s.

"My mother had a birthday and my dad didn't know what to get her. She asked for a racehorse. So he got her three really bad racehorses. That's how it all began," Chris Coleman said.

Coleman went on to breed multiple New Mexico-bred stakes-winning horses, including Smash Dancer, Bobby Blurr, Bo Chime, and Ben Told.

After many years within the industry, the farm became too much for Coleman to maintain singlehandedly and she culled her herd. 

"My mom sold out. She got to a point where she really loved seeing the babies and horses. When she couldn't do that any more she kind of thought she was finished with the racing game," Chris Coleman said. 

Her hiatus would not last long. When Slammed and her 3-year-old grade 2-placed, stakes-winning half sister Smash Ticket  (Midnight Lute  ) began their careers, Coleman was there. 

"She bought back in when the two fillies out of Hennesey Smash started doing well," Chris Coleman said. "She jumped at the chance. At 84 years old, the biggest smile she gets on her face is when I talk about Smash Ticket or Slammed.

"It's the happiest moment she has. She's had a lot of things taken away from her health-wise. Racing those fillies and knowing they're out of her old race filly is just a joy for her."

Chris Coleman said that when the time comes around this weekend for Slammed to take her stage, the fact that she has made it to the top will not matter quite as much to his mother—she will be gratified either way.

"There's no better place than where I'll be with her Saturday morning," Chris Coleman said. "It could be an allowance or a stakes at Sunland (Park) and she would be equally as thrilled. She loves to see those fillies do their thing."