The Inside Track by Tim Keithley: Road to All American Weekend - Whistle Stop Cafe

Whistle Stop Café Brings Rainbow Victory, Undefeated Record to All American Futurity Trials at Ruidoso Downs

If there’s a favorite to make the final of the $3 million All American Futurity this weekend it might be 2020 Rainbow Futurity winner and undefeated Whistle Stop Café.

“She was impressive at Remington winning the Heritage Place Juvenile in the spring,” her only rider Ricky Ramirez said. “But when we brought her to the mountains she seems to have found another gear.”

The top two finishers in the Rainbow Futurity, Whistle Stop Café and Mister Illusion, drew into the same trial race. They will compete in the twelfth on Friday afternoon.

“She was fast in her Rainbow trial, but came back even stronger in the final,” Ramirez said. “She’s very smart and all business. She’s not a big horse, but has a lot of heart.”

The filly is named after a local restaurant in Weatherford, Texas near where she was raised on a ranch owned by Bobby Cox. She was purchased at the Heritage Place September Yearling Sale for $42,000. In four starts, her career earnings totals $434,468.

“My husband Ray and our trainer Blane Wood picked her out at the Heritage sale, “ owner Lainie Whitmire said. She and her husband own the Whitmore Ranch in Sallisaw, Oklahoma.