Preview Racing


Champs Take Another Shot In Deep Rainbow Derby Trials
Kiss My Hocks will be one of two champions from last season who starting in a deep set of Rainbow Derby trials on Sunday.

© Gay Harris/ Ruidoso Downs
Champs Take Another Shot In Deep Rainbow Derby Trials

RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—JUNE 29, 2015—Two of the three sophomores who earned championship titles last year – Kiss My Hocks and Jess Walking Thru– and All American Futurity winner Jm Miracle highlight the 10 trials to the Grade 1, $1,067,761 Rainbow Derby over 440 yards on Sunday afternoon at Ruidoso Downs.

The Rainbow Derby has an all-time record purse and has attracted stakes horses from across the country. The number of trial entrants is up 10.4 percent over last year and there were three supplements at $40,000 each. Those three supplemented horses have raced in Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and California this year before coming to Ruidoso Downs.

Joining them are the second- and third-place finishers in the Grade 1, $815,045 Ruidoso Derby – Glock and Jm Onfire. Ruidoso Derby winner Bf Farm Boss would have been a supplemental nominee to the Rainbow Derby and he is eligible to the Grade 1, $2.3 million (est.) All American Derby. His connections decided to pass the Rainbow Derby trials and point at the All American Derby trials on August 23.

The horses with the 10-fastest times qualify for the Rainbow Derby on July 18 and the horses with the next 10-fastest times are eligible to compete in the $100,000 Corona Cartel run on the same day as the derby.

Conda Maze and Tyler Graham’s Kiss My Hocks finished a non-threatening fourth in his Ruidoso Derby trial behind Glock, Cobalt Creek and Jm Onfire. This was a deep trial with the eventual second- and third-place finishers in the Ruidoso Derby finishing in front of Kiss My Hocks. It was his first start since back in August.

The 2014 champion two-year-old and two-year-old colt, Kiss My Hocks earned his championships by setting a Sam Houston Race Park track record in his career debut and then winning the Grade 2, $563,950 Sam Houston Futurity by one-half length. Trainer Toby Keeton brought the Tempting Dash son to Ruidoso Downs and he won the Grade 1, $700,000 Ruidoso Futurity, was a close second to Trendi in the Grade 1, $900,000 Rainbow Futurity and won his All American Futurity trial, but his time was not fast enough to reach the Grade 1, $2.6 million All American Futurity finals.

G.R. Carter Jr. picks up the mount on Kiss My Hocks from the injured regular rider Cody Jensen. Kiss My Hocks drew the seventh post position in the seventh trial.

Owned by Gary and Linda Gordon with Ross Roark, Jess Walking Thru makes her 2015 debut after being named the 2014 champion two-year-old filly. The Walk Thru Fire daughter was placed first in the Grade 1, $371,227 Dash For Cash Futurity at Lone Star Park in Dallas. She then went to Los Alamitos Race Course in Southern California and finished third in the Grade 1, $2 million Los Alamitos Two Million.

Trainer Mike Robbins will have regular rider Jose Amador Alvarez aboard when they start from the ninth post position in the fourth trial.

J and M Racing and Farm’s Jm Miracle was second by one length in his Ruidoso Derby trial in his first out since winning the All American Futurity on Labor Day. The Volcom-sired gelding then tuned up for the Rainbow Derby trials with an impressive 220-yard work in :10.69 on June 22 at Ruidoso Downs.

Jm Miracle was second to Kiss My Hocks in the 2014 Ruidoso Futurity

Joe Badilla Jr. rides Jm Miracle with the sixth post position in the first trial.

Paul Blanchard’s Glock and Ruben Marquez’s Jm Onfire each turned in excellent races in the Ruidoso Derby.

The Foose-sired Glock, trained by Paul Jones, fought with winner Bf Farm Boss in the Ruidoso Derby before coming up a head short at the wire in his first stakes appearance.

Glock is in the eighth trial with the fourth post position and L. Salvador Martinez up. The Albert Franco-trained Jm Onfire, a daughter of Walk Thru Fire, also made her stakes debut in the Ruidoso Derby and raced to a third-place effort at 22-1 odds.

Felipe Garcia-Luna rides Jm Onfire with the sixth post position. They face Jess Walking Thru in the fourth trial.

William Smith’s Trendi, a sister to world champion and All American Futurity winner Stolis Winner, raced to a second-place finish in her Ruidoso Derby trial and then was disqualified and placed ninth for interference.

Trendi scored a 44-1 upset win in last summer’s Rainbow Futurity over champion Kiss My Hocks. The Rainbow Futurity win nearly a year ago was her start before the Ruidoso Derby trials on Memorial Day weekend.

Trainer Wes Giles will have Adrian Ramos on Trendi with the fourth post position in the fifth trial.

The three supplements to the Rainbow Derby are Jones’ Fire Fortune, Edward Leslie’s Gold Digging Ashley and Gregorio Garza’s Moonin The Eagle.

Fire Fortune, a Walk Thru Fire gelding, finished a very troubled seventh in the $100,000 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes and then won a $19,000 allowance race by three quarters of a length in his Ruidoso Downs’ debut with Jones as the trainer.

Carlos Huerta rides Fire Fortune with the second post position in the third trial.

Gold Digging Ashley makes her Ruidoso debut after a sensational spring at Remington Park. After finishing second in the $268,000 Oklahoma Derby, the Inseperable filly won the $70,000 Mr Master Bug Handicap over Oklahoma-breds by two-and-one-half lengths and then beat state-breds in the $100,000 Sooner State Stakes by three lengths as the 4-5 favorite.

Trainer Ty Blackwell will have Larry Payne on Gold Digging Ashley with the third post position in the 10th and final trial.

Moonin The Eagle has the talent, but was disqualified from his Sam Houston Derby trial win by the Texas Racing Commission. He was subsequently disqualified from his two-and-three-quarter-length first-place finish in the Grade 3, $203,000 Sam Houston Derby.

A son of One Famous Eagle and champion Your First Moon, Moonin The Eagle won three of his four starts at Hialeah Park in South Florida before moving to Sam Houston. He won the $200,000 South Florida Derby and was second in the $417,000 Hialeah Derby.

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