Page 30 - September 2023

SPEEDLINES
Ramon Sanchez and JM Miracle.
28 SPEEDHORSE September 2023
Umberto Belloc, trainer of JM Miracle, being interviewed
by Tom Dawson after All American Futurity win.
© Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
Futurity win with Runnning Brook Gal in 2009 and One Dashing Eagle in 2012. They won $1.3 million of the $2.6 million purse. JM Miracle was vanned off the track as a precaution for overheating. He was fine the next day for his all-important winner’s photo. Mad About The Moon finished second with Sam Crow in third and Apollitical Blood in fourth. The rest of the field was Bodacious Eagle fifth, Exquisite Stride sixth, Tempting Destiny seventh, Thunderball B eighth and This Fire Is Cold was ninth. Im A Fancy PYC was scratched. The All American Futurity was the last race of the year for JM Miracle. He ended the year with his six starts - four wins and one second earning $1,462,000.
Although Apollitical Blood and Bodacious Eagle were a part of the beaten field, they went on to do well. Apollitical Blood won the 2015 All American Derby-G1 as well as the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt title and went on to be a leading sire. Bodacious Eagle became the 2018 World Champion, Champion Aged Horse and the Champion Aged Gelding. Kiss My Hocks won his trial, didn’t qualify, but he became the 2014 Champion Two Year Old and Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. He is also a leading sire today.
JM Miracle came back in 2015 with four starts, one win and two seconds earning $4,160. He made three starts in 2016 with one win and one second earning $30,802. He made one start in 2017 with a second earning $11,000. His best finishes in stakes were seconds in the 2016 West Texas Maturity-G2 and the 2017 KOFX Radio Handicap-G2. He retired with 14 starts, six wins and five seconds earning $1,507,962. But more importantly, he fulfilled the
All American Dream for J & M Racing & Farm, owned by Javier and Elsa Marquez, for P. K. & Kim Thomas, trainer Umberto Belloc and jockey Ramon Sanchez.
time of 17.368. Significant Jess was second and Denim Jeans was third. The winner of the Ruidoso Futurity-G1 was the fastest qualifier Kiss My Hocks. He was followed across the finish line by JM Miracle in second and Bodacious Eagle in third.
It was at this point that Umberto Belloc became the trainer for JM Miracle. The Rainbow Futurity trials saw JM Miracle winning his trial. He did it in a time of :19.706. This set up a rematch with
Kiss My Hocks and Bodacious Eagle in
the final. When the gate opened, it went wrong for JM Miracle and he got bumped and pinched at the break, and he finished eighth - the only time he went unplaced
in 2014. Kiss My Hocks was second behind Trendi the winner. Bodacious Eagle finished fourth.
So, it was on to the All American Futurity trials. JM Miracle raced on the first day and
he won trial #12 with a time of :21.497 which was the fourth fastest time of the day. The fastest qualifier on the first day and the second fastest overall was Thunderball B with a time of :21.336. Im A Fancy PYC was the second fastest on that day with a time of :21.337. Then came Sam Crow with a time of :21.487. Exquisite Stride led the second day qualifiers with a time of :21.313, which was the fastest time posted for both days. The other qualifiers were Apollitical Blood
in :21.388; This Fire is Cold in :21.431; Bodacious Eagle in :21.436 and fifth fastest time on day two Mad About The Moon with a time of :21.442.
When the gates opened for the finals,
JM Miracle broke with the field in second and from that point, he went on to get stronger. He won by 1/2-length in a time of :21.380 for the 440 yards with Ramon Sanchez in the saddle. It was Sanchez’s third All American
© Gay Harris, Ruidoso Downs