Mountain Top Derby and Maiden Stakes Final

River Flash Wins Mountain Top Derby

Saturday at Ruidoso Downs Race Track Ruidoso Downs, NM—Rivers Flash, a three-year-old gelding, broke from the outside post and ran down the field to win the $162,848 Mountain Top Derby Saturday at Ruidoso Downs Race Track.

“Once he got going he had another gear,” jockey Emilio Tapia said in the winner’s circle. “This time he was more calm in the gate than before and he showed that he wants 440- yards later.”

Owned by Robert Driggers and Ben Lee Ivey, River Flash covered the 350-yards in a time of 17.489 seconds and paid $7.00, $4.00 and $3.00. The gelding has five wins in nine career starts for trainer Wes Giles and will be pointed toward the Zia Derby later in the season. Rivers Flash is sired by Chicks Regard out of the mare Riverside Flash by First Moonflash.

Akurit an Easy Winner in the Ruidoso Maiden Stakes

Akurit, a three-year-old gelding, popped the gate in front and was never headed in the $92,942 Ruidoso Maiden Stakes Saturday afternoon.

It was a fourth career victory for the youngster in nine starts. To be eligible for the Maiden Stakes horses had to have been a maiden before March 1 of this year.

“This one has gotten fast in an hurry,” trainer Heath Taylor said. “We’ll let the horse tell us what the next move is but it could be the Rainbow Derby in July. This horse has matured a lot over the past few months and shown tremendous ability.”

Akurit paid $4.20, $2.20 and $2.20 has an even-money favorite for owners Mary Thompson and Pat Windham. Akurit and jockey Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo covered the 350-yards in 17.564 seconds. The gelding is sired by First Down Dash out of the mare Celtic Emblem by Apollitical Jess