Page 104 - NM Winter 2023

RUIDOSO DOWNS
Moutain Top Derby (R)
Photos by Ruidoso Downs, Bailey Ivey
Jess A Chicks
Chicks A Blazin
Jess Satin
Zoobie Cartel
Corona Cartel
Zoobilee
CRUZIN FOR CHICKZ
Cruzin For Chickz, a gelded son of Jess A Chicks and the seventh-fastest qualifier, earned his first lifetime stakes victory in the June 17, 350-yard Mountain Top Derby (R) for New Mexico-bred 3-year-old Quarter Horses at Ruidoso Downs.
White Lightenin, the fastest qualifier and 7-5 favorite, actually crossed the wire first, but Cruzin For Chickz was moved up from second to first after White Lightenin was disqualified and placed sixth following a stewards’ inquiry for breaking inward and bearing out late. Racing for owners Curtis Crenwelge, Jim Laird and Jose R. Espinosa, Cruzin For Chickz tripped the timer in :17.957 while racing against a reported 15-mph head wind.
Cruzin For Chickz official margin of victory was a neck from sixth-fastest qualifier Codex, who was moved from third to second after the disqualification.
“We were dealing with a strong wind, and it was very difficult (out there),” said jockey Bryan Candanosa, who was riding Cruzin For Chickz for the first time in a race. “This gelding is a very consistent runner. ”
Cruzin For Chickz earned the $90,511 winner’s share of the stakes-record $205,265 purse. The bay gelding was bred by his owners, and he made his Ruidoso Downs debut with a half-length victory in one of seven Mountain Top Derby trials on June 3.
Cruzin For Chickz’s sire, Jess A Chicks, is a 16-year-old son of the Chicks Beduino stallion
Chicks A Blazin. Campaigned exclusively
in New Mexico from 2009-10, the stallion banked $175,537, and his four wins included a half-length victory in the 2009 Zia Futurity (RG1) at Ruidoso Downs.
Jess A Chicks has sired the earners of more than $4.7 million from nine crops, including multiple graded stakes winner Jess Fire Chick and graded stakes winners Chickaloni, Chicky Chicky Kai, Hot Indy Chick and Jess Hot. A half-brother to multiple graded stakes winner Jess A Satin Flash, he is owned by the partnership of Mooring, McClintic, and Abraham, and he stands for a $3,000 fee at W.L. and Dee Mooring’s Double LL Farm at Bosque, New Mexico.
Cruzin For Chickz is out of Zoobie Cartel, a winning homebred 10-year-old daughter
of the Holland Ease stallion Corona Cartel. The gelding’s second dam, the Dashin Bye mare Zoobilee, won three graded stakes in Louisiana from 2009-11, including the 2010 Louisiana Champions Day Derby (RG2) at Fair Grounds Racecourse in New Orleans, and she was a finalist in the 2009 Lee Berwick Futurity (RG1) for Louisiana-bred 2-year-olds at Delta Downs.
Raced exclusively in New Mexico, the gelding has won three of six outs and has earned $172,036. He ended his 2-year-old season with a second-place finish, a neck behind winner Jesses Wish, in the $313,030
New Mexican Spring Futurity (RG2) at Sunland Park.
RC Corona King was placed third and was followed officially by KJ Daddys Money, Wood Dee Queen, White Lightenin, Nolans Moon and Moon Jumpn Jessica. Jesses Wish and Vintage Bourdeaux were listed as stewards’ scratches.
Codex earned the $38,790 runner-up share of the purse for his owner, Uno Mas.
A gray son of Big Daddy Cartel and 2015 AQHA champion 3-year-old filly Astica, and a $160,000 buy at the 2021 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale , the gelding has won three of eight races and has banked $123,412.
RC Corona King pocketed the $21,550 third-place share of the purse for his owner, Jose H. Rodriguez. The sorrel son of the Mr Jess Perry stallion Eye Am King has won two of five outs and has earned $52,102, all of which has been banked from four starts this season.
102 New Mexico Horse Breeder