Stable Notes by Mike Ahrens: Sunday, May 24, 2020

Unlike the prior two days of racing where many qualifiers came from early races before the wind picked up, the wind was more or less steady throughout the day with occasional gusts. The top 10 times of the day were spread throughout, with nine qualifiers coming from race nine races four and 11 each qualifying two, and one each from races three, seven and 10.

Yesterday, on the final race from two days of trials for the Futurity, trainer Wes Giles won and earned a spot into the finals. In today's nightcap, he did it again, achieving the fourth-fastest time of the day with Tres of Hero who is a new entrant into his barn. "This is the first time I've run him, we got him not too long ago, I worked him but I had no clue...but apparently he's not a bad horse."

In the third race, heavily favored Uncle D took some time to gain momentum early. That was not the case for the race's winner, Cers Final Try, who last year in the All American Juvenile ran second to the aforementioned by a neck. Today he broke cleanly, was quickly in command, and never looked back. "The good part is he breaks good, so he kind of keeps himself out of trouble. And it looks like he finished today good. I think what helped him is he had a race at Sunland in the trials. He ran third, he got real tired on us, but I think that helped him because a lot of them came here with nothing."

The fourth race produced two qualifiers in Apollitical Papa for trainer Fred Danley and runner-up Kylee Joy from the barn of John Stinebaugh, who stumbled slightly at the start. Of the hard-trying gelding who always seems to show up, Danley said "He's come back really good as a three-year-old and we expect a lot out of him." Stinebaugh didn't have the best of luck with the two-year-olds the prior two days but qualified three for the Derby finals, with Katch This Bird and Cartel Charly joining the aforementioned filly. "Kylee Joy is one of my favorites. If she didn't stumble today, I don't know how much she might have won by."

Trainer Mike Joiner scored a unique double when winning the 10th race with Oatman Creek Senator, whose younger half-sister qualified for the Futurity finals for the same owner/breeder of Wootan Racing. "He ran real good for his first time of the year. A lot of times these horses need a race."

The fastest time of the race came from Hotsempting in the seventh race for trainer Sergio Ibarra, who was cautiously confident. "We were expecting this all day. Good thing that the wind kind of died down there at the end, I was a little nervous. This is Ruidoso, it's hard out here. But she's in a different class."