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Born To Be Bad Prevails In John Deere Ruidoso Juvenile
Born To Be Bad defeating fastest qualifiers Feature Moonflash and Tac It To The Moon in the Grade 3 John Deere Ruidoso Juvenile Challenge Saturday at Ruidoso Downs.

© Gay Harris / Ruidoso Downs
Born To Be Bad Prevails In John Deere Ruidoso Juvenile

RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—JULY 30, 2016—Ridden by jockey Adrian Ramos, Born To Be Bad (24-1) defeated fastest qualifier and post time favorite Feature Moonflash by a neck in the $63,900 John Deere Juvenile Challenge(G3) Saturday afternoon at Ruidoso Downs. Second fastest qualifier Tac It To The Moon finished a neck back to get third in the blanket finish.

Trainer Tammy Johnson saddled Born To Be Bad to his second win in five starts. The Freighttrain B gelding covered the 350 yards in :17.631 seconds, to pocket the winner's check worth $30,033. The win also guarantees Born To Be Bad a starting spot in the $150,000 Guaranteed John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship(G2) at Los Alamitos Race Course October 29.

The winning connections of Born To Be Bad accept the John Deere Ruidoso Juvenile Challenge stakes trophy on Saturday in the Go Man Go winner's circle at Ruidoso Downs. © Gay Harris / Ruidoso Downs
Melissa Slayton and Cody Bowling own the Texas-bred out of Dosvedanya by Separatist. The bay gelding bounced off a second place effort in the July 15th trial. Melissa Slayton co-bred Born To Be Bad with N.R. Stevenson.

Feature Moonflash put in a late effort to get second place for owner James Sills and trainer Eddie Willis. Cesar Gomez rode the First Moonflash gelding out of Feature Lucy, by Feature Me Jess. Ivy Lane Racing bred the $19,000 Heritage Place Yearling Sale graduate in Louisiana. Also a finalist in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Futurity earlier this season, Feature Moonflash earned $12,780 to boost his earnings total to $42,108.

Brian Muse saddled third place finisher Tac It To The Moon for owner El Cabresto Racing Stables, LLC. Ivan Carnero was aboard the Tac It Like a Man gelding out of Directly To The Moon, by Moon Shake. He picked up $6,390 for the effort.

Born To Be Bad rewarded his backers with a $25.60, $11 and $5.80 payout. Feature Moonflash returned $4.40 to place and $3.60 to show. Tac It To The Moon paid $5.40 to show.

Completing the field were Gustafame, Stella Lou, Caydence, Groupie James, Tsunamii and The Crusador.

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