Page 23 - March 2017

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latter was the only race Zulu Dragon ran at 6 and was the final start of his career.
In all, Zulu Dragon won six of 29 starts, with five second-place finishes and one third. He was the 2012 New Mexico Hi-Point Aged Stallion and banked a grand total of $181,009 on the track.
Following his last race on Jan. 20, 2013, Zulu Dragon went straight to work in the stud barn. His proven performance on the track was bolstered by a black-type pedigree anchored by his sire, all-time leading sire First Down Dash. Zulu Dragon’s dam, Restricted Grade 1 stakes winner Hidden Dragon, also produced stakes winner Heza Wild Dragon and is an all-time leading dam of ROM. It was a combination that set Zulu Dragon up perfectly for a promising career as a sire.
A New Mexico Sire
Zulu Dragon’s first foals were born in 2014 and debuted in 2016. It didn’t take long for them to make headlines, as a total of three Zulu Dragon juveniles qualified to one of the year’s first futurities, the $297,890 New Mexican Spring Futurity-RG2. Fellow freshman sire Big Daddy Cartel had four qualifiers to the race, but when the May 1 finals rolled around, it
was Zulu Dragon who earned bragging rights, thanks to the exploits of Running Dragon.
Bred and owned by the By By JJ Partnership, Running Dragon had posted the fastest qualifying time of :15.468 to the 300-yard New Mexican Spring Futurity. She duplicated her 1/2-length trial win in the finals, but bettered her time to :15.104. The $140,025 winner’s share of the New Mexican Spring Futurity purse pushed Running Dragon’s earnings to $145,380.
Tackling 350 yards in her next start, Running Dragon posted a 1 1/4-length win in a trial to the Mountain Top Futurity-RG3. Once again, she was the fastest qualifier, and on June 18, she kept her undefeated record intact with a victory in the $364,256 finals.
“We broke this filly at our farm in El Paso,” Juan Gonzalez, Jr. told the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association after the race. “She’s always been very feisty, a fighter. But, she’s very secure in the gate and has an awesome break. In her trial, she was a length and a half in front after just the first two or three strides.”
Highly regarded heading into her fifth start, Running Dragon didn’t disappoint. The grey
filly won her trial to the Grade 1 Zia Futurity by
2 1/2-lengths. The impressive win didn’t come with the top time, though. That honor went to Big Spurs, who had finished second to Running Dragon in the New Mexican Spring Futurity. In the gates for the richest race of her young career — the $409,110 Zia Futurity — Running Dragon was caught unprepared at the start. Three lengths behind the leader at the first call, Running Dragon ran a dismal ninth, her first loss.
Bypassing the All American Futurity, Running Dragon reappeared in October for
the New Mexico Classic Futurity trials. Despite getting squeezed at the start, she returned to her winning ways and earned a finals berth. Contesting her fourth stakes race of the year, she ran second, yielding the win to another Zulu Dragon offspring, Magnifico Dragon. She would close 2016 with one more win, this time in a trial to the Shue Fly Stakes. Her 1/2-length win in that Jan. 15 finals marked the beginning
First Prize Doc
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