![](\"http:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/features\/pix\/2008\/heartswideopen.5.17.08.001.JPG\")
Javier and Manny Rodriguez\u2019s Heartswideopen, with her dominating victory in the Grade 1, $446,439 Rainbow Derby on Saturday, July 19,\u00a0at Ruidoso Downs,\u00a0is now an All American Derby win away from becoming just\u00a0the second All American Futurity winner to sweep the Ruidoso Downs\u2019 derby triple crown .<\/p>\n
The only other All American Futurity winner to return the following summer and win the Ruidoso, Rainbow and All American derbies is world champion DM Shicago, who was conditioned by Heartswideopen\u2019s trainer Carl Draper.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t separate those two great horses,\u201d Draper said after being asked if he is more confident of Heartswideopen\u2019s prospects in the All American Derby than he was with DM Shicago’s at the same point in his career. \u201cI am just lucky to have had them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ridden for the first time by Bonifacio Perez, Heartswideopen broke straight from the outside post position in the Rainbow Derby and soon took command of the 440-yard dash.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cMy horse was with her for a little while,\u201d said Cody Jensen aboard runner-up Strong Hope. \u201cBut, she is such a great horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heartswideopen crossed the finish line a length in front of Strong Hope in :21.095. That time ended a record streak of three-consecutive 440-yard races under :21.00 for Heartswideopen, who was the fastest qualifier to the Rainbow Derby with her :20.976 trial win.<\/p>\n
The champion daughter of Feature Mr Jess and Dashing Phoebe had also won her last two Grade 1 stakes, the All American Futurity and the Ruidoso Derby, from the outside post position, but in each of those races she drifted towards the outside rail before rallying for the victory. In the Rainbow Derby, she broke straight and true. \u201cI wasn\u2019t worried about that [her drifting out], but I was concerned that the inside of the track may have been faster earlier today,\u201d Draper said.<\/p>\n
Also, Draper wasn\u2019t concerned about the jockey change on Heartswideopen. Oscar Hernandez had ridden her in nine of her 10 prior starts, including her three previous Grade 1 stakes wins. Hernandez came back from knee surgery for the Ruidoso summer season, but suffered a setback and will be sidelined for the rest of the year. \u201cI feel sorry for Oscar,\u201d Draper said. \u201cBut I have to take care of business. Bonifacio is a top race rider who has ridden for me before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez\u00a0knew the enormity of a Rainbow Derby win on Heartswideopen\u2019s resume.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI had never been so nervous in my career,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when I got on her and petted her, she relaxed and I knew we would get along.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Abraham\u2019s Strong Hope finished second for the second consecutive time in a Grade 1 derby. \u201cIt\u2019s no disgrace to run second to her,\u201d said trainer Fred Danley. \u201cI\u2019ll take it everytime.\u201d<\/p>\n
R.D. Hubbard and Johnny T.L. Jones\u2019 Noconi finished third, three quarters of a length behind Strong Hope, to complete the identical 1-2-3 finish of the Ruidoso Derby. The homebred Mr Jess Perry son is affirming his reputation as the best maiden in quarter horse racing with five seconds and three thirds from 10 career starts, mainly against top stakes company. The Paul Jones-trained gelding was a close second in the Hobbs America Futurity and third in the Grade 1 Ruidoso Derby.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The $223,219 first-place check raised Heartwideopen\u2019s career earnings to $1,705,125 and moved her into ninth-place on the all-time leading money-earning list for Quarter Horses. She is the third-richest female of all time and less than $50,000 behind Dashingly. Last year\u2019s world champion Blues Girl Too is the all-time leading money earning female with $2,032,328.<\/p>\n
Heartswideopen is now considered the prime contender for the 2008 world champion’s crown, a title won by DM Shicago in 2005. Last year, she was the overwhelming choice as the champion two-year-old and champion two-year-old filly. The complete order of finish in the Rainbow Derby was Heartswideopen, Strong Hope, Noconi, Rock Solid Jess, Brighton Beach, Illegal Memories (2007 champion two-year-old gelding), SF Royal Bank, Eye Of Glory and Possum Fust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Javier and Manny Rodriguez\u2019s Heartswideopen, with her dominating victory in the Grade 1, $446,439 Rainbow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}