Nowhere Too Run (#8) and jockey Jaime Lopez gets up over Da Bros Cartel (#4) to set the fastest time in the Far West Futurity trials Monday evening at Grants Pass Downs.

© Vince & Linda Williams

GRANTS PASS, OR–SEPTEMBER 18, 2023–Stakes winner Nowhere Too Run ran his win streak to three straight this evening while posting the fastest qualifying time for the Far West Futurity at Grants Pass Downs.

The 10 fastest qualifiers, from two trial races, will return to the Pacific Northwest racetrack on Sunday, October 8th to vie for the winner’s portion of an $80,000-est. purse going a distance of 400 yards.

Under jockey Jaime Lopez, Nowhere Too Run chased early then rallied to defeat Da Bros Cartel by a head in the second trial. His time of :19.619 seconds, equaling a 104 speed index, was the fastest clocking of the day.

Benito Curiel saddled the recent John Deere Emerald Downs Juvenile Challenge winner for owner Onofre Garcia. Denis Valdez bred the Freakier gelding in Washington from the A Classic Dash mare A Cataclysmic Affair.

The Midnight Sky, under jockey Jaime Lopez, winning the Far West Futurity opening trial Monday at Grants Pass Downs. © Vince and Linda Williams

Nowhere Too Run has won four of six starts and banked $33,163.  He also won the Firecrackers Futurity Consolation. He is also eligible to run in the $125,000-est. John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship(G2) on Saturday, October 21 during the Bank of America Challenge Championship Night at Lone Star Park near Dallas, Texas.

Runner-up Da Bros Cartel held on to the second fastest time of :19.658 seconds, a 103 speed index for owner Edwin Rosales. Also second in the Firecracker Futurity and the Pocatello Downs Futurity, trainer Jose Gomez conditions the Carters Cartel 2-year-old out of Glitterati by Stoli. 

Hayden Brothers Ranch bred the $31,445 in Oregon.

Enrique Garibay-Ceja’s Oregon homebred, The Midnight Sky, broke clean in the opening trial before posting a one-length win and the third fastest time of :19.880 seconds, a 97 speed index.

Trainer Benito Curiel named jockey Jaime Lopez to ride the One For The Brothers filly out of Chick N Dales Pride by Okey Dokey Dale. A finalist in the both the Firecracker Futurity and the Pocatello Downs Spring Futurity, The Midnight Sky has earned $7,166 in six career starts.

For the complete list of qualifiers, times, sires, dams, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys for the Far West Futurity CLICK HERE.