RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—MAY 28, 2018—The first running of the $25,000 Dash For Speed Stakes with a full field of fillies and mares and the local debut of the Lubbock-based band Flatland Cavalry make for a full Saturday of entertainment at Ruidoso Downs.

Every Saturday the fifth race offers $1,000 added to the trifecta pool. This Saturday’s fifth race is filled with 10 thoroughbred fillies and mares racing five-and-one-half furlongs.

The first post time is 1 p.m. and the Flatland Cavalry concert under the stars begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

The Dash For Speed Stakes is named after 1990 world champion Dash For Speed. The daughter of Dash For Cash was trained at Ruidoso Downs by Larry Keiter and was the second horse to sweep the three Grade 1 derbies at Ruidoso Downs.

She won the Kansas (now Ruidoso) Derby, Rainbow Derby and the All American Derby. The winner of 22 of 30 starts also won the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity, the Grade 1 Rainbow Silver Cup, the Grade 1 World’s Championship Classic and the Grade 1 All American Gold Cup at Ruidoso Downs. She earned $1.2 million during a time when purses were much lower.

"If she had two legs instead of four, I’d ask her to marry me," Keiter said after winning the three Ruidoso derbies.

The morning-line favorite, at 2-1 odds, in the Dash For Speed Stakes is Nancy Carrizales’ homebred Carris Cartel. The 3-year-old filly takes on older mares in the Dash For Speed and comes in with stakes credentials. She won the $131,000 AQHA Juvenile Championship last fall at Prairie Meadows. The daughter of The Louisiana Cartel earned a spot in the AQHA Juvenile Championship with a victory in the Grade 3, $70,000 AQHA Sam Houston Juvenile Challenge at Sam Houston Race Park.

Carris Cartel should be in peak form. She comes off an allowance win at Sam Houston on May 7 for trainer Marcos Carrizales. The filly fought to a neck win while racing the 350 yards in :17.789 under Santos Carrizales, her regular rider.

Jockey Carrizales and Carris Cartel start from the ninth post position in the full 10-horse field.

Melvin Neugebauer’s Ms Fast Prize Tracy makes her stakes debut in the Dash For Speed. The Captain Courage daughter won back-to-back $25,000 allowance races at Zia Park last fall.

Trainer Wes Giles will have L. Salvador Martinez, who rode her to those allowance wins, back in the saddle. Ms Fast Prize Tracy starts from the seventh post position.

Flatland Cavalry was formed in the fall of 2012 as friends and students at Texas Tech University. It originated with lead singer and vocalist Cleto Cordero and Reid Dillion. It soon became a quintet with fiddle player Laura Jane, bass guitarist Jonathan Saenz and percussionist Jason Albers.

The band garnered the attention of the Lubbock music scene with the release of their debut EP "Come May" in the spring of 2015. The band’s follow-up release of "Humble Folks" in April of 2016 continues to grow their audience of contemporary country listeners.

"Flatland Cavalry is a perfect fit for the racetrack’s first Red Raider Weekend," said president and general manager Jeff True. "We also want to welcome the Texas Tech Alumni Association and the Masked Rider, Lyndi Star. We look to make this an annual part of our summer celebrations at Ruidoso Downs."

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