The Inside Track by Tim Keithley - May 7, 2020

HIGH WINDS DID A NUMBER ON the recorded times, so we can’t put too much credence in the clocked results. Lincoln County was under a Red Flag Warning this afternoon with powerful headwinds. If you made a top-ten time you were in the starting gate before 1:30 pm.

THE QUICKEST TIME WENT TO a nice-looking youngster trained and ridden by two Sergio’s working together. Trainer Sergio Ibarra and jockey Sergio Becarra Jr. teamed up to bring Cyber Monday across the line in a time of 13.783 seconds for 250-yards. “He has been the best horse in my barn so far and he proved he could run today,” Ibarra said of the Favorite Cartel-sired colt. “We have high hopes for him.” Cyber Monday was purchased at the Ruidoso sale last fall for $140k by an El Paso group led by Abelardo Gallegos. 

Tuckk at Ruidoso Downs Race Track, May 7, 2020, Schooling Works

SECOND FASTEST TODAY WAS Mike Joiner-trained Tuckk (careful announcer!) who won a nice little speed duel with Blane Wood-trained Fires Relentless in the 9th schooling work. The two hooked up for  some fun in the final 50-yards and Tuckk finished in a time of 13.852. It’s always a friendly rivalry when those two grizzled-veteran trainers try to one-up each other. 

THE BEST LOOKING WINNER OF THE DAY might have been Koolnmacho, owned and trained by Manny Rodriguez, who was a two-length winner in the 12th work today in a time of 13.895. He’s a $200k Ruidoso Downs sale graduate—yet kept walking out of the starting gate while being trained in the mornings this spring at Remington Park. “We just couldn’t get him to go when the gates opened,” said Rodriguez. “I told (jockey Raul Herrera) what to expect today before the race because it was his first time on him—but instead he surprised us all when the horse just popped the gate and ran right down the racetrack.” Koolnmacho is a gelded son of Jess Good Candy.

-Tim Keithley