Page 57 - New Mexico Horse Breeder Summer 2018

SUNLAND pArk
New Mexican Spring Futurity (RG2)
by Michael Cusortelli
Jesse James Jr
Mr Jess Perry
Loose Lips
On A Bunny
On A High
Ester’s Bunny
Zee JaMeS
Zee James kept her perfect record intact with a victory in the April 7, 300-yard New Mexican Spring Futurity (RG2) for state-bred 2-year-olds at Sunland Park.
Ridden by Adrian Ramos and aided by a reported 12-mph tail wind, Zee James defeated Woodys Copy Cat by a neck in :15.057. Wes Giles prepped the homebred bay daughter of Jesse James Jr for owners Robert M. Driggers and Ben Lee Ivey.
The $186,314 winner’s share of the stakes-record $396,412 Spring Futurity purse increased Zee James’ earnings to $191,654. The filly’s sire, Jesse James Jr,
was a stakes-winning and Grade 1-placed son of champion Mr Jess Perry. Racing in California and New Mexico from 2003-
06, Jesse James Jr earned $167,275 from 21 starts, and his five wins included a three- quarter length victory in the ’05 First Down Dash Handicap at Los Alamitos.
Jesse James Jr has sired the earners of more than $14.5 million from eight crops, including 2015 AQHA champion 3-year-old filly Astica and multiple graded stakes winners Osbaldo, Princess Jesse, Cinco Menudos, and Play Misty Foreme. A full brother to Grade 1 winner Jesstified, the stallion died on August 24, 2017, due to laminitis.
Zee James’ dam, the homebred On A High mare On A Bunny, won the 1994 Cabeza de Vaca Handicap at Santa Fe Downs. The filly is a half sister to Gun Battle, the winner of the ’06 Zia Futurity (RG1) at Ruidoso Downs and the runner-up to No Secrets Here in that season’s $1.9-mil- lion All American Futurity (G1).
Zee James’ second dam, the winning Bunny Bid mare Ester’s Bunny, produced two other stakes winners, both of whom were half sisters to On A Bunny: Six To Five, a son of Six Fortunes and a two-time AQHA champion aged stallion in the early-1990s, and Mary Major, a stakes-winning Easy Toro mare and the dam of multiple graded stakes winner and 1994 All American Futurity (G1) third-place finisher Major Rime.
Zee James made her debut by posting the fastest Spring Futurity qualifying time, as she won the last of 11 trials on March 16 by a domi- nating 3 3/4 lengths in :15.002. In the final, she was sent to post as the 7-5 favorite in the full field of 10 and returned a $4.80 win mutuel.
Woodys Copy Cat, a 16-1 longshot, com- pleted a $90.60 ($2) exacta. Midnite Blu fin- ished third, three-quarters of a length behind Zee James, and was followed by Cat Daddys Lil Girl, Rallydownthealley, Igotmybiggirljeanson,
Cowboy On The Run, Cristobell Fame, HS Paul Walker, and Special Outlaw.
A $4,700 yearling purchase at last year’s New Mexico-Bred Sale at Ruidoso Downs, Woodys Copy Cat races for Enrique Barrera. The Woodbridge filly has banked $72,244 from two outs, and she set the seventh-fastest qualifying time with her third-place finish in the eighth Spring Futurity trial.
The sixth-fastest qualifier, Midnite Blu made his debut with a 1 1/4-length victory in the sixth Spring Futurity trial. The First Moonflash gelding, a $45,000 purchase at last year’s Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, has earned $48,945 from two outs for his owner, Too For Two.
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