Page 115 - NM Winter 2023

RUIDOSO DOWNS
Zia 870 Championship (R)
Photos by Ruidoso Downs, Bailey Ivey
Corona Surfer
Corona Cartel
Little Surfer
Domeinitchy
Dome
Perfect Present
SONNY SURFER
Dan The Flashman finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Sonny Surfer, and was followed by El Tres Menudos, odds-on favorite Freedom Flash, Regal Isabella, J R Bordeaux and Cartel Drunk Playboy.
Miss Tizy is a 5-year-old daughter of the Carters Cartel stallion Mr Special Cartel campaigned by Julian A. Aguirre. The brown mare has won three of 21 races, and the $10,000 runner-up share of the Zia 870 Championship purse brought her earnings to $77,676.
Dan The Flashman, a half-brother
to Sonny Surfer, is a stakes-winning 8-year-old son of 2009 AQHA champion aged stallion First Moonflash racing for Jessica Orona and Dinorah Lopez. The brown gelding has won eight of 37 outs
-- including seven of 28 at the 870-yard distance -- and the $5,000 third-place share of the purse bumped his bankroll to $220,372.
Maria G. Ortiz’s Sonny Surfer, a 25-1 longshot in a field of eight New Mexico- bred distance specialists, scored an upset victory in the July 23, $50,000 Zia 870 Championship (R) at Ruidoso Downs.
Racing on a track officially labeled “good,” Sonny Surfer covered 870 yards in :46.258, and his winning margin was a neck from 19-1 longshot Miss Tizy. Jose Enrique Ortiz rode the 5-year-old son of Corona Surfer for trainer David Hancock.
Sonny Surfer was bred by Dosi and Norma Alvarez of La Union, New Mexico. The gelding’s sire, the winning Corona Cartel stallion Corona Surfer, raced in four states from 2015-16 while earning $37,994 from nine starts and qualified to the 2015 Heritage Place Futurity (G1) at Remington Park. Corona Surfer has sired the earners of more than $600,000 from three crops.
Sonny Surfer is out of Domeinitchy (TB), an unraced homebred daughter of
the Storm Cat stallion Dome. A 2006 foal, Domeinitchy produced Gonna Cha Cha, a half-brother to Sonny Surfer who won the 2012 Zia Futurity (RG1) for New Mexico-bred 2-year-olds and the 2012 All American Juvenile Invitational, both at Ruidoso Downs.
Sonny Surfer traces back to his fourth dam, Lady Ridanilustros, a winning and stakes-placed daughter of the Round Table stallion Illustrious. A 1976 Florida- bred foal, Lady Ridanilustros foaled two stakes-placed runners.
Sonny Surfer was stretching out in distance off of a fifth-place finish in a 550- yard, $36,000 non-winners-of-three allowance race for New Mexico-breds at Ruidoso Downs on June 11. Raced exclusively in New Mexico, the gelding has won three of 22 starts, and
the $30,000 winner’s share of the purse from his first career stakes victory increased his earnings to $90,923.
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