Page 71 - New Mexico Horse Breeder, Fall

RUIDOSO DOWNS
MOUNTAIN TOP TB FUTURITY (R)
by Michael Cusortelli
Abstraction
Pulpit
Andujar
Speedin Excess
In Excess (IRE)
Danish Dessert
HUsTle UP
Hustle Up maintained his perfect record with a 1 1/4-length victory in the $122,688 Mountain Top Thoroughbred Futurity (R) for New Mexico-bred 2-year-olds at Ruidoso Downs on June 23.
Sent to post as the 1-2 favorite in the full field of 10, Hustle Up covered 5 furlongs in :58.61 while earning his fourth win in as many outs and second stakes score. Tracy Hebert rode the dark bay or brown son of Abstraction for owners Dale F. Taylor Racing LLC, Bobby J. McQueen, and Suzanne Kirby, and trainer Todd Fincher.
“I almost messed up (early in the race),” said Hebert. “Instead of slowing him down, I should have just let him run. He was the best horse in the race.”
Hustle Up made his Ruidoso debut with a clear seven-length victory in the first of two Mountain Top Futurity trials on June 8. The gelding was bred by Brad King and Todd Fincher, and he is one of six start-
ers sired by Abstraction, an 8-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Pulpit and Andujar, a daughter of Quiet American who won the 2005 Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2) at Hollywood Park.
A half brother to stakes winner Marian Ravenwood, Abstraction earned $86,945 from four starts during his racing career, and his
two wins included a victory in the ’13 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico. The stallion is owned by a partnership and stands at Doubletree Farm at Hobbs, New Mexico.
Hustle Up is also one of three winners from as many starters produced by Speedin Excess, a winning daughter of In Excess (IRE) who ran second in the 2008 Barretts Debutante Stakes (R) at Fairplex Park in Pomona, California. The gelding is a half brother to On The Low Down, the winner of last year’s Copper Top (R) and Mountain Top (R) futurities.
Hustle Up’s second dam, the winning Regal Classic mare Danish Dessert, is a half sister to Ever Steady, a four-time stakes win- ner in Canada from 1989-90, and Sparrow Lake, a two-time stakes winner at Woodbine Racecourse near Toronto in 1988. The gelding traces back to his fourth dam, the Mongo mare Barn Swallow. A ’67 foal, Barn Swallow produced stakes winner Cadet Corps, and she was a half sister to 1968 Donn Handicap win- ner Favorable Turn.
Hustle Up’s resume includes a wire-to-wire, 7 1/2-length victory as the 7-10 favorite in the April 15, 4 1/2-furlong Copper Top Futurity (R) at Sunland Park.
“We have never really let him run,” said Fincher of Hustle Up. “We’re just going to keep him fit and happy.”
Fincher indicated that Hustle Up might make his next start in the 5 1/2-furlong Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R) trials on August 11.
Sunscreen finished second and was followed by Hanky Panky Kim, Comic Hot Rod, Bring All Offers, Storm Bayou, Stealing Home, Quien Es, Santita SS, and Some Assembly Reqd.
Sunscreen is a homebred son of Southwestern Heat owned by R.D. Hubbard and Shaun Hubbard. The chestnut gelding has won one of three starts, and the $24,538 runner-up share of the Mountain Top purse pushed his bankroll to $37,878.
Hanky Panky Kim races for Fred Danley, who also bred the bay daughter of the Distorted Humor stallion Infinite Resource. The bay filly has earned $28,063 from three outs.
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