Hall's Family Ties Carry Them to CTBA Oaks Win

Colorado-based breeder, owner, and trainer Monk Hall and wife Lynda don't credit a secret weapon to their success but rather divine intervention. Their home-bred Misty Girl  laid down a textbook performance in her second start July 29 to win the CTBA Oaks at Arapahoe Park.

The seven-furlong dirt test for 3-year-old fillies went with a field of seven runners, two of which are trained by Hall. The chestnut Vice Lord  filly sat chilly in second around the first turn and readily took over the leader at three sixteenth pole moving three wide to the outside, angling in she clocked a final time of 1:28.94 over the distance, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of the second runner up. Her stable mate, Just a Sec , finished fourth for the Halls.

Misty Girl's sire, Vice Lord, and her dam, Lake Cide Girl , are both members of the Halls' stable. The Kennedy Factor mare was a stakes-placed earner before retiring to the broodmare string; of her nine foals, four are winners.

"We've had that family for three or four generations now," Monk Hall said. "We have had the mare since she was a baby; we raised and raced her." 

Misty Girl broke her maiden on first asking July 16 at the same Colorado track, putting an impressive nine lengths between her rivals in the 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight. She returned 13 days later to add another accolade to her record; she now boasts earnings of $28,271.

"She's one of the most agreeable horses we've been around for quite some time," Hall commented. "Everything you ask her to do, that's what she wants to do, poses no problem whatsoever. It's been a real treat to have this as a horse in our stable."

Video: CTBA Oaks

While the filly is finding her paces, she made Saturday look effortless, poised, and patient through every stride, waiting for her rider Adrain Ramos to shift into the next gear.

"It was nice how she was willing to settle for second place down the backside and not get nervous about that," Hall commented. "She was willing to allow the jockey to dictate the pace that she was racing and not have to be in front. In the turn, the horse in front, as she was about to pass the leader, started taking her out to the middle of the track. It didn't bother her much; she said, 'Okay, well, fine.' She kept going, and when it came time to lay the body down, she had something left and went on about her business.

"We have no plans at the moment; we will wait and see how she comes out of this race and try not to rush her. If we give her plenty of time, she might be a pretty nice mare for a long time."

Exclusively racing in Colorado for the past 30 years, the Halls keep a string of about 10 horses, most of which they solely own. The family runs deep, and the couple has another 3-year-old,  (Vice Lord—On My Mission), who won on first asking July 23 at Arapahoe by an astounding 10 3/4 lengths in a six-furlong maiden special weight. The chestnut gelding will be looking to make it a weekend to remember for the Halls in the CTBA Derby, which goes off as race 7.

The couple has been in the business a lifetime, with Monk training since 1978, having a career-best year in 2007, bankrolling $168,395 in earnings with 13 winners. Over the past 45 years, he has saddled 2,836 runners with a record of 428-388-399 and earnings of $2,848,101.

"The Lord has blessed us, we have been able to make a living racing horses and without traveling, which not very many people can do," Hall said. "We cannot take the credit. It has to be divine intervention, no doubt.

"There have been a few people come up since the race and say, 'Oh, congratulations, you deserve this because you work so hard.' It's true that we work hard, but a lot of times, we work hard and don't have the same success, and a lot of other people work just as hard and are not so blessed. It's undoubtedly a blessing from the Lord that we've been given this filly, and we can't take all that much credit."