Page 51 - September2021

SPEEDLINES
Ochoa retired after the Champion of Champions with a record of
16 starts with 11 wins, one second and one third. He earned $2,781,365 to be AQHA’s all-time leading money winner. A title he still holds.
Looking Back. These horses were Summer Encounter (1981), Steppin For The Moon (1991) and Grand Coeur (2001).
Roy Baldillez rode Ochoa in the All American Futurity finals, and he had been his jockey for the Ruidoso Futurity. When the gates opened, the announcer professed “it was a beautiful start” as they all left in a line with Ochoa and Lotta Love For Robyn getting the first call. They were followed by Tee Cos and Jess Cuervo. Then Big Daddy Cartel drifted in, forcing Bills Last to take up. Then the call was back to Ochoa as he crossed the finish line with Jess Send Me and Tee Cos finishing second and third.
Ochoa crossed the finish line 1 1/2-lengths in front for a convincing win in a time of :21.058 over Jess Send Me in :21.291 and Tee Cos, a neck behind Jess Send Me in :21.319. Lotta Love For Robyn was fourth and Lethal Volt fifth. The rest of the field finished in the following order: Jess Cuervo, Denver Pass, Big Daddy Cartel, Mr Ease 123 and Bills Last. Big Daddy Cartel was disqualified and placed last for his interfering with Bills Last.
The purse for the 2011 All American Futurity was $2,400,000 and Ochoa
The four-year-old campaign for Ochoa consisted of four starts, beginning with a second in the Remington Park Invitational Championship-G1. Then, he won the Mr Jet Moore Handicap and then the Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship-G1. He qualified for the Champion of Champions-G1 but finished seventh to end the year. He won two of five starts with earnings of $161,624.
Ochoa retired after the Champion of Champions with a record of 16 starts with 11 wins, one second and one third. He earned $2,781,365 to be AQHA’s all-time leading money winner. A title he still holds. He returned to his birthplace, the J Bar 7 Ranch, and a special paddock for him and his buddy Noconi to spend their days. He was trained as a ranch horse and led the All American post parade in 2017. He has proven to, not only Brenda Jones, but to the world that he was special. A special horse that fulfilled the All American Dream winning the All American Futurity and the All American Derby, earning that rare double.
So, now it is on to the 2021 All American Futurity and someone fulfilling their own All American Dream.
earned $1,200,000. The All American was his last race for the year. That gave him four starts with three wins and earnings of $2,244,200. He was named the AQHA Champion Two Year Old and the AQHA Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding.
Ochoa, the All American Futurity
winner, would embark on the Ruidoso Derby Triple Crown starting with the Ruidoso Derby trials, a race he won through a disqualification. He came back in the finals, finishing ninth after stumbling at the start and then bumped. He was moved up to sixth after three horses were disqualified for positive tests. Ochoa came back to the Rainbow Derby trials, winning that and then winning the finals. He then proceeded to win his All American Derby double, and he became the sixth horse to win both the All American Futurity and All American Derby. He made two more starts in his three-year-old season, with a first in the trials of the Texas Classic Derby and then finishing fifth in the finals. He had eight starts with six wins for the year. He earned $1,375,541 and was named the AQHA Champion Three Year Old and the AQHA Champion Three-Year-Old Gelding.
The late R.D. Hubbard (center) and AQHA’s Don Treadway (right) were among the people who helped honor Ochoa’s new status as Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading money earner with a winner’s circle presentation after the All American Derby-G1.
SPEEDHORSE September 2021 49