The Mr Jess Perry daughter Jess A Classy Lassy broke her maiden with a stunning 2 3\/4-length victory to post the fastest qualifying time from 18 trials to the Grade 1, $625,000 Rainbow Futurity on Friday, July 6 at Ruidoso Downs.<\/p>\n
Trained by Heath Taylor, Jess A Classy Lassy raced the 400 yards in :19.432 under G.R. Carter, in her second career start. She made her only other start at Remington Park in Oklahoma City on April 29, where she finished third.<\/p>\n
“When we ran her at Remington, we were thinking about the Heritage Place Futurity,” said owner-breeder Abrams. “She got in trouble and then closed so well that we changed our plan and started thinking about longer futurities, like the Rainbow and the All American.”<\/p>\n
B. Marcus Smith\u2019s Early Morning Bite, trained by James McArthur and ridden by Sam Thompson, also broke his maiden with his trial win in the second-fastest time of :19.468. The gelded son of Fishers Dash was second in his Ruidoso Futurity trial, qualifying for the futurity and then finishing sixth.<\/p>\n
The third-fastest qualifier Wild Six may be the horse to beat in the finals. The Wes Giles-trained filly raised her record to four wins from four starts with the half-length win over Ruidoso Futurity third-place finisher Three Past Six. Wild Six was timed in :19.478, while Three Past Six is the fifth-fastest qualifier with a :19.555 time.<\/p>\n
Wild Six won the Grade 1, $266,000 West Texas Futurity and was then entered in the Ruidoso Futurity trials, where she flipped in the gate and was scratched from the race.<\/p>\n
The remaining qualifiers and their trainers eligible to return for the 400-yard finals on July 22 are: Possum Fust\/Eddie Willis; Shy Ann Jess\/Tony Sedillo; Brighton Beach\/John Buchanan; Keep Themusicplaying\/Paul Jones; Pragmatico\/Weston Martin; Fear This Feature\/Carl Draper. The Rainbow Futurity is the second race in the All American Triple Crown series.<\/p>\n
Heartswideopen won the first leg, the $500,000 Ruidoso Futurity, but her trainer, Carl Draper, decided to by-pass the Rainbow Futurity and concentrate on the All American Futurity, the third leg of the series held on Labor Day.<\/p>\n
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The richest Rainbow Derby since champion Florentine won in 1987 will be headed by Valiant Hero (pictured as a yearling), who set the fastest qualifying time (:21.129) for the finals with a 1 1\/2-length victory, his seventh win in 11 career starts.<\/p>\n
Sired by First Down Dash and out of the leading producer Corona Chick, Valiant Hero was a $500,000 yearling purchase at the 2005 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale. He started his current streak with a win in the $1 million Texas Classic Futurity at Lone Star Park on December 2 and won the Grade 2 Heritage Place Derby at Remington Park in his start prior to the Rainbow Derby trials.<\/p>\n
Trained by Mike Joiner for the partnership of Brown, Hill and Bell, Valiant Hero has earned $571,000 and will be favored to win the $223,000 first-place check in the $447,230 Rainbow Derby finals.<\/p>\n
“He broke well and I went after him left-handed to get him going,” said Valiant Hero\u2019s jockey G.R. Carter Jr. “We just coasted home.”<\/p>\n
Mr Jess Perry-sired The Crawfish, one of five qualifiers from the Paul Jones stable, finished second to Valiant Hero and has the second-fastest qualifying time of :21.223. But Separate Bet, coming off a track-record setting allowance victory, could be the horse to step forward and challenge Valiant Hero in the Rainbow Derby. The Paul Jones trainee, a finalist in last year\u2019s $1.9 million All American Futurity won by 2 1\/4 lengths in the third trial with a time of :21.228. Last month, Separate Bet set a new 400-yard record of :19.18 in an allowance race at Ruidoso Downs.<\/p>\n
Jones’s other three finalists (fourth, fifth and sixth in times) are Ruidoso Derby runner-up La Lalique; Ruidoso Derby fourth-place finisher Twoforthedough; and Ruidoso Derby finalist Already Rude. The remaining qualifiers and their trainers are: Mr Gordon Shultz\/Carl Draper; Royal Snow 468\/Fred Danly; Voghts Gold\/Heath Taylor; and Okey Dokey Fantasy\/Sleepy Gilbreath.<\/p>\n
The 10 fastest qualifiers from the three trials for the Rainbow Derby return for the 440-yard finals on July 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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