Page 146 - July 2017

Ruidoso Derby-G1
MAGICAL JESS & TOUGH TO BEE
by Michael Cusortelli
Even the high-tech photo finish camera on the rooftop at Ruidoso Downs couldn’t separate the top two finishers in the 400-yard
Ruidoso Derby-G1 on June 10, as a pair of longshots - Tough To Bee (at 19-1 odds) and Magical Jess (14-1) - split the $480,000 win- ner’s share of the $800,000 purse.
Tough To Bee, a sorrel gelding, was ridden by Raul Ramirez Jr. for owner Thomas Lipar’s Paragon Farms LLC of Conroe, Texas, and trainer Trey Wood.
Jaime Parga Leos piloted Magical Jess,
a bay gelding, for owner Ugo de la Torre of Anaheim, California, and trainer Mario Loza.
Racing against a reported 11-mph head wind, the geldings arrived at the wire in :19.925, and their winning margins were a short nose over third-place High Plains Perry, who clocked in :19.927.
The Ruidoso Downs board of stewards needed eight minutes to determine the order of finish from the official photo.
The ninth-fastest qualifer from the May 28 trials, Tough To Bee was one of four Ruidoso Derby finalists prepped by Wood; the others were High Plains Perry, Mighty B Cartel, and Corona Carmelita.
Tough To Bee was bred in Oklahoma by James and Marilyn Helzer of Arlington, Texas.
The gelding recorded a career- best 91 speed index in his 1/2-length victory in the 10th of 12 Ruidoso Derby trials.
Lipar acquired Tough To Bee for $20,000 at the 2015 Heritage Place Yearling Sale in Oklahoma City.
Campaigned in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, Tough To Bee has now won five of 10 starts, and his $240,000 winner’s share of the purse bumped his bankroll to $505,726. The Ruidoso Derby was
his second stakes victory,
having previously in the year
won the 350-yard $61,800
Mr Master Bug Handicap
for Oklahoma-breds at
Remington Park on April 23 by 1/2-length as the odds-on favorite.
Tough To Bee’s resume includes a third- place finish, a neck behind winner High Plains Perry, in last year’s $1-million Texas Classic Futurity-G1 at Lone Star Park, and he also ran third, a neck behind winner Apolltical Chad, in the $1-million Ruidoso Futurity-G1.
“He is just always the same,” said Wood after Tough To Bee’s performance in the Ruidoso Derby. “He deserves this. He’s earned it.”
Tough To Bee is one of four winners from seven start- ers produced by Peppermint Seis, a winning 11-year-old daughter of 2001 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt Tres Seis. Tough To Bee’s second dam, winner Rare Peppermint, was a finalist in the 1997 Kansas Derby-G1 at Retama Park.
Magical Jess was bred
by Enrique Gonzalez’s EG High Desert Farms at Sylmar, California. The fifth-fastest qualifier, the gelding made his season debut with a
1-length win in the sixth Ruidoso Derby trial on May 28.
Magical Jess has now won four of eight outs while racing in New Mexico and Arizona, and he has banked $421,650. In addition to run- ning fifth behind winner and 2016 Champion Two Year Old/Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding Imperial Eagle in last year’s 440-yard
Ruidoso Downs $800,000 • 400 yards :19.925 • si 87
Mr Jess Perry
Apollitical Jess
Apollitical Time
TOUGH TO BEE, ’14 g.
Tres Seis
Peppermint Seis
Rare Peppermint
Mr Jess Perry
One Sweet Jess
One Sweet Dash
MAGICAL JESS, 14 g.
Red Hot Rhythm
Magic And Rhythm
Magical Dash
Tough To Bee (#2), under Raul Ramirez Jr., and Magical Jess (#3), under Jaime Leos, deadheat for the win in the $800,000 Grade 1 Ruidoso Derby
144 SPEEDHORSE, July 2017
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Ruidoso Downs