Page 154 - August 2015

Zia Futurity-RG1
IM A MOON QUEST
by Michael Cusortelli
Im A Moon Quest surprised a lot of race- trackers when he won the $379,896 Zia Futurity-RG1 for New Mexico-bred 2-year-
olds at Ruidoso Downs on July 26.
After all, the gelding was sent to post at odds of 14-1, and he was the eighth-fastest
qualifier off of his second-place finish in the first of 10 trials on July 10. But don’t count Im A Moon Quest’s trainer among those who were all that shocked about the gelding’s perfor- mance in the final.
“He trained really well between his trial and the final, and that’s always a good sign,” said Mike Joiner, who prepped Im A Moon Quest for owners Marc Jungers & J. Santos Espinosa. “And there wasn’t that much time difference between the fastest and 10th-fastest qualifiers to this race. They were all fairly close, less than 15/100ths of a second between them.
“I’ve learned from past experience that in these futurities, if you get out of the gates good you can increase your chances of winning because you can stay out of trouble,” he added. “This was the best start this little horse has ever had, and he gamed up when he got close to the wire and wouldn’t let anybody by him.”
Ridden by Omar Reyes, Im A Moon Quest covered 400 yards in :20.177, and his margin of victory was a nose from Wahoo Raider, the seventh-fastest qualifier and a 23-1 long-
shot. The $159,557 winner’s share of the Zia Futurity purse boosted Im A Moon Quest’s earnings to $165,837 from just three starts.
Jungers and Espinosa acquired Im A Moon Quest from breeder Mike Abraham for $42,000 at last year’s New Mexico- Bred Yearling Sale. The gelding’s sire, First Moonflash, was the sport’s champion aged stallion in 2009.
Im A Moon Quest’s pedigree also runs deep on his dam’s side. He is one of four winners from five starters foaled by Sables Vision, a winning 19-year-old daughter of Raise A Secret and part of the late Spencer Childers’ Hall
of Fame breeding program. The gelding is a 1/2-sister to Miss Chicks Vision, the winner of the 2011 SunRay Park Firecracker Stakes.
Im A Moon Quest’s second dam, the late Thoroughbred mare Black Sable, won the 1979 Rainbow Derby for Childers and was that season’s Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. The geld- ing traces back to his sixth dam, Black Easter Bunny. The sport’s Champion sophomore filly in ’52, Black Easter Bunny provided the breed- ing foundation for Childers and was inducted
into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in ’02. Im A Moon Quest was
scheduled to make his debut in a May 29 Mountain Top Futurity-RG3 trial at Ruidoso, but an illness caused his con- nections to scratch him.
“He spiked a little
temperature that morning,”
Joiner said. “The owners
were there and we talked
about it, and we all thought
it would be best not to run him and take a chance of him getting really sick.”
Nine days after his scheduled debut, Im
A Moon Quest made his actual first start in
a 350-yard maiden-special-weight for New Mexico-breds. The gelding won the race by 1-length, but more importantly the out served as an important prep for his Zia Futurity trial.
“We were fortunate that we were able to get a race in him before the trials,” Joiner said. “Earlier in the year, when you have a bunch of horses that don’t have a lot of experience, you really don’t need to get a race in your horse before trials. You can usually get by without it because everybody is on the same page and on equal footing. But when you get to this time of
year, the inexperienced horses have a little tougher time competing.”
Runner-up Wahoo Raider (Jess A Chicks-Eye Leaving) was ridden by Rick Oliver for owner Jacob Simmons III. Cynthia Gonzalez saddled the homebred sorrel gelding.
Jameson Jr (Jesse James Jr-Tangled Vines) is a homebred gelding racing for Mac and Janis Murray’s MJ
Farms at Veguita, New Mexico, which won the Zia Derby-RG2 the previous day with their homebred filly Astica. Salvador Martinez rode Jameson Jr for trainer Wes Giles.
Fastest qualifier Carson City Girl (Woodbridge-Racetrack Barbie) fin-
ished fourth and was followed by Thunderboldandlightn (Chicks A Blazin-Run N Pie), second-fastest qualifier and 2-1 favorite Beerun (Jesse James Jr-Kim Crawford), Gon In A Flash (First Moonflash-Meter Her
Gone), Shesaveryfreakygirl (Sixes Royal-Lil Majorette), and JM First Madam Moon (First Moonflash-Madam Math). Fourth-fastest qualifier Faster Version (Winners Version-Fast Copy Miss) was scratched.
Ruidoso Downs $379,896 • 400 yards :20.177 • si 80
First To Flash
First Moonflash
Nagano Moon
IM A MOON QUEST, ’13-g.
Raise A Secret
Sables Vision
Black Sable
152 SPEEDHORSE, August 2015
Im A Moon Quest (#3) & Omar Reyes lead at every call in the $379,869 Zia Futurity
RACING NEWS
Ruidoso Downs