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RACING NEWS
RUIDOSO DOWNS MEET RECAP
RUIDOSO DOWNS ENDED ITS 47-DAY THOROUGHBRED AND QUARTER HORSE MEET WITH A 12-RACE PROGRAM ON LABOR DAY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5.
Ruidoso’s closing-day card featured Quarter Horse racing’s richest and most prestigious race, the Grade 1, $2.925-million All American
Futurity. Hes Judgeandjury, a homebred Hes Relentless gelding trained by Heath Taylor for owners Jeff Jones and Steve Holt, won the 440- yard race while taking home the $1,492,347 winner’s share of the purse.
The Ruidoso Downs meet also featured the track’s richest race for 3-year-old Quarter Horses, the 440-yard, $808,538 All American Derby (G1). Contested on September 4, the All American Derby was won by A Pollitical Candy V, a gelded son of Apollitical Jess trained by Santos Carrizales Jr. for owner Valeriano Racing Stables LLC.
Other Ruidoso meet highlights included the track’s annual Zia Festival weekend, August 6-7. This year’s Zia Festival featured nine stakes restricted to New Mexico-bred racehorses, five for Quarter Horses and four for Thoroughbreds. Stakes purses totaling $903,161 were paid to horsemen that weekend. The weekend’s richest race, the 400-yard, $379,527 Zia Futurity (RG1) for state-bred 2-year-old Quarter Horses, was won by KJ Daddys Money, a homebred Big Daddy Cartel filly trained by Wes Giles for owners John Lee, Kathy Lee and Ruben Mares.
Noe Garcia Jr. was Ruidoso Downs leading Quarter Horse jockey, as he rode the winners of 37 races from 159 mounts, two more than runner-up Adrian Ramos, who won 35 races from 179 mounts. James Flores, who rode Hes Judgeandjury to victory in the All American Futurity, led all Ruidoso Quarter Horse jockeys in mount earnings with $1,988,390.
Wes Giles led all Ruidoso Downs Quarter Horse trainers with 33 winners from 182 starters, four more than runner-up Heath Taylor, who prepped the winners of 29 races from 133 starters. Taylor, the trainer of Hes Judgeandjury, led all trainers in starter earnings with $2,327,886.
Ruidoso Downs’ owner standings were topped by La Feliz Montana Ranch LLC, which won 17 races from 108 starters, nine more
than runners-up Valeriano Racing Stables LLC and the partnership of Gene Bradley and Tod Bradley, each of whom won eight races from
24 starters. The partnership of Jeff Jones and Steve Holt were Ruidoso’s top owners in purse earnings with $1,666,747.
On the Thoroughbred side, Alfredo Juarez Jr. led all Ruidoso Downs jockeys with 15 wins from 57 mounts, five more than runner-up Oscar Ceballos, who rode the winners of 10 races from 45 mounts. Juarez also led all riders
in mount earnings with $316,157. Juarez rode Storm Leader to victory in two of the track’s richest Thoroughbred races, the 5-furlong, $151,568 Mountain Top Futurity (R) on June 26, and the 5 1/2-furlong, $137,784 Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R) on August 14.
Casey Lambert, a former jockey on the
New Mexico circuit who retired from riding after the Ruidoso Downs 2015 meet, led all Ruidoso Thoroughbred trainers with 17 wins from 80 starters, three more than runner-up Todd Fincher, who sent out the winners of 14 races from 84 starters. Fincher, who trained
the homebred Storm Leader for owners Mike Abraham, Leslie Amestoy and Pierre J. Amestoy Jr., topped all Ruidoso Thoroughbred trainers in starter earnings with $546,099.
Kirk and Judy Robison of El Paso, Texas, led all Ruidoso Thoroughbred owners with seven wins from 14 starters, one more than runner-up Champion Racing Stable, which won six races from 29 starters. The partnership of Mike Abraham, Leslie Amestoy and Pierre J. Amestoy Jr. topped all Ruidoso Thoroughbred owners in purse earnings with $149,476.
Ruidoso Downs is scheduled to open its 2023 meet on Friday, May 26. The 46-day season will run through Monday, September 4.
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© Myriam Maynard, Speedhorse