Dont Let Down broke on top and held off a late bid by 2-5 favorite Separate Bet to win the Grade 1, $500,000 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs this afternoon. Ridden by Juan Vazquez for trainer John Buchanan\u00a0 and owner\/breeder Bobby Cox, of Fort Worth, TX, the gelded son of Stoli ran the 440 yards in :21.056 for his seventh win from 15 career starts.<\/p>\n
“He broke good out of the gates,” Vazquez said. “I was still looking for (Separate Bet) and he came pretty fast at me, but I got lucky and got to the wire first.”<\/p>\n
Separate Bet was sent off as the odds-on favorite by the standing-room only crowd off his Rainbow Derby win, his 400-yard track-record setting win in an allowance race, and setting the fastest qualifying time to the All American Derby. The Paul Jones-trained gelding broke in slightly at the start under jockey Freddie Martinez, and steadily gained ground in the last half of the race to finish second by a neck.<\/p>\n
“We had a clean break, but the first one hundred yards he couldn’t get a hold of the racetrack, said Martinez. “He tried ’em. That four horse (Dont Let Down) opened up quite a bit; I was just hoping to get up for second.”<\/p>\n
Hiclass La Jolla, also trained by Buchanan, was another half-length behind Separate Bet for third in the field of nine three-year-olds. Gus The Greek, Valiant Hero, Feature For You, Mightys First Call, Run Perry Run and Ivory James completed the order of finish. Royce Rogers was scratched.<\/p>\n
Third-placed in last year’s $2 million All American Futurity, Dont Let Down finished second to Separate Bet in the All American Derby trials with the second-fastest time from all trials. He also won the Grade 1 Dash For Cash Futurity at Lone Star Park last fall, and finished second in the Grade 1 Texas Classic Futurity.<\/p>\n
Buchanan, who also conditions All American Derby finalist Ivory James (9th), will send out Coronas Fast Dash in tomorrow’s $2 million All American Futurity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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