Page 46 - Speedhorse September 2017

QUALIFIERS TO THE 2017 GRADE 1, $3,000,000
All American
Futurity
by Stacy Pigott • photos by Linda Earley
Ruidoso Downs hosted the trials for the Grade 1, $3 Million All American Futurity on August 18-19. Fourteen races were on tap each day, 28 total, with the horses having the top five times from each day advancing to the Labor Day finale. The All American Futurity offers the largest purse of any 2-year-old race in the world, regardless of breed.
Trainer Wes Giles and owner Melvin Neugebauer fared well, as they teamed up to qualify two horses including fastest qualifier Bigg Daddy, ridden by G.R. Carter Jr. Neugebauer owns a share of Bigg Daddy as part of the Too For Two partnership and is the sole owner of Uptown Dynasty, who was piloted by Cipriano Vidana. Both of those horses qualified on the second day of trials.
Trainer James Padgett II also has two All American Futurity qualifiers in Hawkeye and Fly Baby Fly. Both horses qualified on day two under the guidance of jockey Rodrigo Vallejo. No other jockey had two qualifiers.
August 18
:21.664 Shakem Bye Perry, g,
(First Prize Perry-Shakem Bye, Dashin Bye) Jose J Espinoza/Pedro A Lopez/Omar Reyes
:21.795 Heza Streakin Legacy, c, (Heza Fast Dash-Legacys A Streakin, Streakin La Jolla) Martin C Ybarra Jr/Albert Franco/Edwuin Lujan
:21.816 Hes Limitless, g, (Corona Cartel-PJ Chick In Black, Desirio) Jack Smith Farms/John Stinebaugh/Agustin Silva
:21.843 Believe Me Irene, f, (Valiant Hero-Financial Leverage, Mr Jess Perry) Diamond Racing Stables LLC/
Shae L Cox/Jose Enriquez
:21.854 Mr Secret Glory, g, (Hez Our Secret-Eye Of Glory, Mr Eye Opener) Johnny Trotter/Trey Wood/Ricky Ramirez
The sire ranks were wide open this year, as only one stallion will be represented by more than one finalist. Hotstepper and Fly Baby Fly are both by One Famous Eagle, while the eight other qualifiers are sired by Big Daddy Cartel, First Prize Perry, Heza Fast Dash, Mr Jess Perry, One Dashing Eagle, Corona Cartel, Valiant Hero and Hez Our Secret.
The big story from the weekend was the failure of potential Triple Crown winner Eagle Jazz to advance to the finals. Juan Medina’s homebred dominated in his trial, winning by 4 1⁄2 lengths, but his time of :21.957 was not fast enough for a return trip to the finals. Eagle Jazz ran into a 9 mile per hour head wind in his trial and missed the final qualifying spot by .055 second. Eagle Jazz, who dead-heated to win the Ruidoso Futurity and won the Rainbow Futurity, could compete in the $200,000 All American Juvenile.
August 19
:21.611 Bigg Daddy, g,
(Big Daddy Cartel-Alice K White, First Down Dash) Too For Two/Wesley T Giles/G R Carter Jr
:21.802 Uptown Dynasty, g,
(Mr Jess Perry-Ms Southern Dynasty, FDD Dynasty) Melvin Neugebauer/Wesley T Giles/Cipriano Vidana
:21.807 Hawkeye, c,
(One Dashing Eagle-No Fees, Runaway Winner) Bobby D Cox/James B Padgett II/Rodrigo Vallejo
:21.827 Hotstepper, g,
(One Famous Eagle-Pandorum, Tres Seis)
Johnny D Cope, R D Hubbard, Rafter W Stables & H Southway/ C Dwayne Gilbreath/Cody Jensen
:21.902 Fly Baby Fly, f,
(One Famous Eagle-Higher Fire, Walk Thru Fire)
Fly Baby Fly Partnership/James B Padgett II/Rodrigo Vallejo
44 SPEEDHORSE, September 2017