Thursday, September 1, 2016
Be sure to catch the Trivia Contest at the end of the slide show! There's two photos!!
Thursday kicked off the countdown to the 2016 All American Futurity Weekend, getting the festivities off to a good start. Midmorning Thursday, the connections to the qualifying horses gathered in the All American Turf Club for brunch and for the post-position draw for the All American Futurity & Derby. After they checked in, the draw process began. Tim Keithley, Director of Marketing emceed, while Annelle Reynolds, Nominations Secretary, Violet Smith, NMSRC Steward, Adriana Anguiano, Assistant Racing Secretary and Johnny Montes, Racing Secretary supervised the process of the qualifiers choosing their post positions. Everyone took a break to enjoy the buffet style brunch and then returned to select the post positions for the Futurity & Derby Finals. While some were choosing their positions for the next All American winner, onlookers around the corner in the sale barn were getting a glimpse at the prospects in the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale before the three-day event starts Friday evening.
Futurity Draw Order and Jockey Position
(5 of the 10 contestants were 2015 Yearling Sale Graduates)
The 440-yard All American Futurity offers the world’s largest purse for 2 year olds, regardless of breed. For the third consecutive year, the All American Futurity winner’s share of the $3 million dollar purse is $1.5 million.
1 - One Hot Habit (Eduardo Nicasio) – sold for $29,000 LAES
2 - One Famous Beau (Cody Jensen)
3 - Magical Jess (Jaime Leos) – repurchased for $12,000 HPYS
4 - Koolnfamous (G.R. Carter, Jr.)
5 - The Marfa Lights (Larry Payne)
6 - Coronas First Diva (James Flores)
7 - Imperial Eagle (Esgar Ramirez) – sold for $48,000 RUISYS
8 - Apolltical Chad (Adrian Ramos) – sold for $38,000 RUISYS
9 - Volcoms Lady (Cesar Gomez) – sold for $18,500 HPYS
Gamey Tee Cos (will receive 10th place money)
Derby Draw Order and Jockey Position
(5 of the 10 contestants were 2015 Yearling Sale Graduates)
This year the 440-yard All American Derby has a $2,414,691 million purse, which is the largest of any Quarter Horse derby. The purse is the second-largest in the race’s 43 runnings, the largest of which was in 2013 when the purse was $2.8 million.
1 - Boogies Special Dash (Larry Payne)
2 - A Fulton Classic (Jose Ortiz) – sold for $35,000 RUISYS
3 - One Fabulous Eagle (Cesar Gomez) – repurchased for $75,000 RUISYS
4 - Brave Heart Won (Joe Badilla)
5 - Celtic Emblem (Ricky Ramirez)
6 - Volcom Bay (Jose Alvarez) – sold for $43,000 HPYS
7 - First Fancy Racy (Francisco Calderon) – sold for $37,000 HPYS
8 - First Valiant Sign (Cody Jensen) – sold for $100,000 RUISYS
9 - EC Jet One (Esgar Ramirez)
10 - Jess Envision (Eduardo Nicasio)
Later Thursday evening, two events took place at the same time. The rain started to fall, but it didn’t keep people from lining the sale barn area at Ruidoso Downs Sales Pavilion to preview Lazy E's 139 Yearlings for the 2016 Sale. The preview started at 5:00 p.m and Butch Wise emceed the event while Sarah Gammill assisted. Guests were provided chilled beverages and a ringside view of the sale yearlings.
Among the people who attended the Lazy E Preview were Pam & Terry Baber who both love attending the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale each year. Pam says she likes to get the catalog in the mail and read over the pedigrees for good quality and then go check them out at the sale barn to see what they look like. She says, “It's like looking at candy in a candy store! Lazy E always has a good group of yearlings, so we like to go to their showing.”
Pat & Dickie Shearer, who were at the Lazy E Preview, came from Portales, NM, to attend the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale. This year they have 2 horses in sale. Pat said, "The Sale is close and convenient with good quality yearlings at fair prices. This year we are here with a group of 10 of our buddies.”
Sandy and Randy Coleman have been coming for 10 years to the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale. They’ve had a pretty good year! Sandy and Randy are the owners of Ms Maggie Mae, the fastest qualifier to the Ruidoso Futurity! They also own broodmares. The Colemans like to breed their own babies and are here looking at some different bloodlines to add to their broodmare band. “The Lazy E Showing is a good place to start,” said Sandy.
Dr. Glenn Blodgett is the horse division manager and leads the team of veterinary staff members at 6666 Ranch. He oversees all of the veterinary and reproductive services provided, as well as the horse breeding and management responsibilities. He is attending the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale with 32 yearlings consigned by 6666 Ranch. Fred Stanley brought 16 yearlings to the sale. He has bred a lot of his mares to Mr Jess Perry, who stands at 6666. He says, “It’s a great cross with our mares.”
While the preview was happening in the sale barn, down the road, the All American Futurity and Derby Qualifiers dinner was taking place. The event began with cocktail hour in the Ruidoso Downs Race Horse Hall of Fame at 6:00 followed by a lavish dinner buffet served upstairs in the All American Turf Club. Music was provided by Jack Welch and a video presentation of the All American Futurity and Derby qualifiers was screened after dinner. This was followed by the performance of Jessica Packard, professional hula hoop dancer.
Make sure you watch the slide show of each day’s events to the end. This year SPEEDHORSE presents the All American Countdown Trivia Contest. At the end of the slideshow there will be two photos of two different All American winners. Name the individual horse, the year, jockey, trainer and whether it was the All American Futurity or Derby and email your answer and contact information to info@speedhorse.com. The people who answer correctly will be put into a drawing and the person selected will win their choice of a SPEEDHORSE hoodie, a SPEEDHORSE vest or a one-year subscription.
The All American Countdown will continue tomorrow with photos from the Bill Reed Memorial Stakes at Ruidoso Downs Race Track and pictures highlighting the first night of the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale. Come back tomorrow to see the slideshow and to compete in the second All American Countdown Trivia Contest.