STABLE NOTES

Trainer Todd Fincher had quite a day, running first through third in the first leg of the Mountain Top TB Futurity trials and first and second in the second leg. But his biggest win came in the Ruidoso QH Invitational Stakes.

Stakes racing for older horses started today in the fifth race with the All American Invitation Stakes. Oatman Creek Senator who had run in the Ruidoso Derby earlier in the meet was quick to the lead and maintained the advantage to the wire under Raul Ramirez, Jr., bringing the consistent three-year-old gelding's record to three wins, four seconds, and a third from nine-lifetime starts.

Flashing My Pjs went out to the track today for trainer John Stinebaugh to jog and stretch her legs. The two-year-old filly will be one of the top choices in Monday's All American Futurity having posted a quick time in the trials.

Trainer Bret Vickery has been pretty quiet this meet, to say the least. "Things started out pretty slow," he said, adding that "I only brought 10 head over this year" to make a total of 23 starts thus far compared to 42 starts in 2019. But one horse who was highly thought of as a two-year-old by Vickery and others "is gonna pull us out."

No stakes action this weekend, but that's just the calm before the storm as next weekend is closing weekend and you know what that means.

The wind today was mostly tail with the occasional shift to a mild cross-wind, all steady and generally between 6 and 14 mph throughout the card.

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.

Tuesday morning workouts for Quarter Horses were a little light on numbers compared to most of the prior week but not light on impressiveness when looking at the fastest 330-yard work of the day.

Thursday morning training saw a handful of good contenders. Of note were several older horses from the barn of Wes Giles who worked an easy 220 yards in hand. Tres of Hero, the finalist for the Ruidoso Derby, went in 12.27 while after the break were KJ Frankie B in 12.31 and Cat Daddys Lil Girl in 11.64.

This morning's worktab saw more quick training from two and three-year-old quarter horses putting in final preparations for the All American. Analytix, a three-year-old colt trained by John Buchanan, led the day's 220-yard works zipping along in 10.95.

As we head closer to All American trials many contenders are putting in their final serious preparations. Thursday’s training had numerous workers getting ready.

Trainer Juan M. Gonzalez sends out several live runners in stakes this weekend. The trainer's son, Juan Carlos, who oversees much of the day to day training, was quite high on their two runners in the Zia Derby as well as two other runners who are new to the barn.

After two scratches in the Rainbow Invitational, the two runners from the also eligibles list drew in, so a field of ten went postward. The favorite was Love Is Everything V, trained by Eddie Willis and ridden by Jimmy Dean Brooks who was celebrating his 55th birthday today. It was definitely a happy birthday, as the sorel gelding dug in gamely to win by a neck.

Today was the Zia Quarter Horse Futurity Trials, consisting of eleven races with the top 10 fastest times going to the finals. There was minimal wind through much of the day with a mild tailwind during a handful of races. The fastest qualifier came in the very last trial, when Cristom, ridden by Noe Garcia, Jr. and trained by Fred Danley, blew them away to post a 19.764. Cristom entered off a maiden win June 21st, the gelding's lone outing prior to today.

The weather today was fairly constant with a moderate tailwind or minor cross-wind throughout the day. Clouds came and went, the temperature went up and down. But after the seventh race, not a single horse through the remaining half of the card was able to crack the top five fastest times, though in the finale HR Princess Jess ran a dynamite race to just miss that mark.

We started the day with a mild crosswind, had a headwind in the third race, back to crosswind for a couple of races before a strong tailwind in the middle part of the day, back to a mild crosswind for the remainder with a brief rain shower in only the 13th race. So, fairly typical and variable weather of Ruidoso. The five fastest times from today's trials will proceed to the finals.

The featured race was the Mountain Top New Mexico Bred Thoroughbred Futurity, worth $163,415 with $81,708 going to the winner. With the scratch of Shamefully Sweet a field of nine went postward. Todd Fincher trained five of the runners and while his One Mark drew the outside post, the remaining four had post positions one through four.

There's a new face in the jockey colony this year at Ruidoso Downs and he's wasted no time making an impression in a big way. Twenty-year-old Luis Fuentes scored four victories in a single card on Saturday, June 6, and heading into this weekend has amassed 11 victories from 29 mounts with three seconds and four thirds to place him atop the thoroughbred rider's standings over Alfredo Juarez, Jr., who has eight wins from 33 mounts with eight seconds and three thirds.

The first of two stakes races today came with the Mountain Top QH Juvenile Stakes for two-year-olds who did not qualify for the Futurity Finals as race eight. Of the ten entrants in this event, the one to run fastest in the trials was Vine Master, trained by J.J. Gonzales and ridden by Sergio Becerra, Jr.

Clear but warm skies with the wind picking up gradually over the day greeted us for the first major stakes race of the meet as well as an interesting undercard. To start were four thoroughbred races, trials for the Mountain Top NM Bred Thoroughbred Futurity.

Last weekend we saw in both the Ruidoso Futurity Trials and Ruidoso Derby Trials a horse make the finals out of the last trial. With today's Mountain Top New Mexico Bred QH Futurity Trials we again saw a runner come out of the last heat of the day to qualify for the finals when Hatchi Zulu for trainer Janell Sanderson posted the
seventh-fastest time of the day with a mild cross-wind in tow.

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.

On opening day Sergio Ibarra said he had better ones the following day and he delivered in today's first race with Cyber Monday who ended up with the third-fastest time of the day.

The first day of trials saw winds range from seven to 16 miles per hour with the wind picking up in the middle of the day along with the track perhaps slowing down a bit due to increased sun and heat. Of the 10 fastest times of the day, four came from race three, two came from race 13, and one each from races one, two, four, and 10.

Trainer, Clint Crawford, talks about Uncle D with Ruidoso Down’s Mike Ahrens.

Trainer, John Stinebaugh, discusses this year’s two-year-olds with Ruidoso Down’s Mike Ahrens.