Jess Dream of Me, the sorrel filly out of Clint Crawford’s barn posted the fastest time of :15.649 on the first day of training races at Ruidoso Downs today. Crawford-trained horses hit the wire first in four of the day’s training races run at 300 yards. Jess Dream of Me is owned by Raymond Merrill and Greg Cullum and is by Apollitical Jess out of Valiant Jess by Valiant Hero.

“We had her entered in a maiden special weight race over at Remington, but she acted up in the gate and was scratched,” said trainer Clint Crawford. “We decided not to put any more pressure on her and just waited until these training races. She has plenty of raw talent but she’s a little high strung and needs to be handled with kid gloves. I think she’ll be ready for the Ruidoso Futurity trials.”

The five fastest starters of the day include Jess Dream of Me (:15.649), Favorite Blues Man (:15.676), Catch a Good Time (:15.685), Double Duty (:15.693), and Billions (:15.717). Jess Dream of Me, Catch a Good Time and Double Duty all ran in the 3rd training race. Billions is also trained by Crawford.

A total of 14 training races were run today for unraced 2-year-olds in preparation for the upcoming Quarter Horse Triple Crown trials that include the Ruidoso Futurity (est. $1,000,000 GI), the Rainbow Futurity (est. $1,000,000 GI) and the All American Futurity (est. $3,000,000 GI).

Training races continue tomorrow with a post time of 11:00 AM.