Page 151 - August 2019

Rainbow Futurity-G1
UNCLE D
by Michael Cusortelli • photos by Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
A$170,000 purchase at last year’s Heritage Place Yearling Sale, Uncle D led at
every call to win the $1-million Rainbow Futurity-G1 at Ruidoso Downs on July 21.
Uncle D broke on the lead from the 1-hole, had 1/2-length at the first call and 1-length at the top of the stretch. The colt covered the 400 yards in :19.619 under jockey Cody Smith, and his margin of victory was a clear 1 1/4-lengths from fastest overall qualifier and 8-5 favorite Hotsempting.
The brown son of Corona Cartel earned a 96 speed index for the strong effort, as well as the $420,000 winner’s share of the purse. Clint Crawford prepped Uncle D for owner Cavenaugh Quarter Horses LLC.
“He stood there like a champ, and when the gates opened, he was all business,” Smith said of Uncle D’s run in the Rainbow Futurity finals.
“He ran as hard and as fast to the other end as he could go,” the jockey continued.
Uncle D made his local debut with a wire- to-wire neck victory as the odds-on favorite on day two of the Rainbow Futurity trials on July 6. Uncle D recorded the eighth-fastest
overall qualifying time, but that day Smith felt the colt was capable of even better.
“In the trials, he got a little flat at the end of the race,” the rider added. “I felt like he needed that race. But today, I got into him pretty good, and he had a lot more left.”
“I’m kind of new (to racing),” said Don Cavenaugh, who signed the ticket for Uncle D at the Heritage Place Sale. “We bought quite
a few last year. Clint (Crawford) and Renee (Wilson) picked them out.”
Crawford said that he looked at Uncle D at the sale, then proceeded to look at some other yearlings.
“We kept going back to him, so we bought him,” the trainer said.
“He’s been coming along really great,” Crawford added. “We’re aiming him for the
All American Futurity trials (Aug. 16-17, 440 yards), and after what he did today, I think he’ll be able to handle the extra 40 yards. That was
a concern after his effort in the Rainbow trials, but in the final, he showed he could do it.”
Raced in New Mexico and Oklahoma, Uncle D has won three of four starts and has
banked $597,365 with the addition of the $420,000 winner’s share from the Rainbow Futurity purse. His resume includes a second- place finish as the fifth-fastest overall qualifier, 3/4 lengths behind winner Uptowne Babe,
in the 350-yard $1,073,100 Heritage Place Futurity-G1 at Remington Park on June 1.
Uncle D was bred in Utah by McColee Land and Livestock LLC. The colt is out of a daughter of all-time leading sire and 1987 World Champion First Down Dash. Uncle D’s dam is Little Surfer, who won two stakes from 2008-2011, including the 2009 Hialeah Derby at Hialeah Park and the 2010 Lone Star Park Distaff Challenge. A 2006 foal, Little Surfer is a full sister to 2006 World Champion Wave Carver and Ocean Runaway,
the sport’s Champion Two Year Old in 2004 and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt the following season. Uncle D’s second dam, the Grade 2-placed Runaway Winner mare Runaway Wave, was the sport’s Champion Broodmare in 2005. In addition to Wave Carver and Ocean Runaway, Runaway Wave also produced Trisk, the winner of the 2007 Southern California Derby-G1 at Los Alamitos and a full brother to Little Surfer.
Uncle D and Cody Smith go wire-to-wire in the $1,000,000 Rainbow Futurity-G1, winning by 1 1/4-lengths
SPEEDHORSE, August 2019 149
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