Stable Notes by Mike Ahrens: Friday, August 21, 2020

Day one of All American Futurity Trials is in the books, and an exciting day it was. The wind picked up just past midway through the card with a 10 mile per hour tailwind benefitting horses in the 10th race. "The wind aided," said Todd Fincher, trainer of A Dangerous Flash who won that heat despite a troubled start. "He tries his ass off," he said, after the gelding bobbled then had a few bumps before getting moving to get up late in 21.715. A Dangerous Flash was the fourth-fastest time of the day going into the finale, but was just knocked out of the finals by two horses trained by Blane Wood, who had three of the top five-fastest times today. Two of those came in the last, when Famous and Easy posted a 21.656 beating stablemate Caliente Caramelo by a quarter length, with the latter finishing strongly.

The Rainbow Futurity winner, Whistle Stop Cafe, posted the fastest time of the day in 21.615 with no wind at all, the only such race with zero wind. She bled just a little bit from the hard effort and received a van ride back to the barn. "She ran her heart out, just bled a little bit," said Wood. "She's doing perfect." Runner-up in that event, Flash Bak, also earned a spot in the finals for trainer John Stinebaugh.

The horse to qualify from today's trials besides the aforementioned runners was Jettz, who went in 21.622 despite not having the best start and then drifting about in the late stages but still managed the second-fastest time of the day.