50-to1 Bacardi Surprises In $100,000 All American Invitational
RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM–SEPTEMBER 2, 2024–Let loosed at 50-1 odds, Bacardi scored the biggest win of his career Monday when he was a three-quarter length winner in the $100,000 All-American Invitational for 3-year-olds who did not qualify for the Grade 1 All American Derby.
Under jockey Alfredo Sigala, Bacardi drew off late to complete the 440 yards in 21.116 seconds, equaling a 99-speed index into a 14 mph crosswind. It was the second win in 11 career starts for the $50,000 Heritage Place September Yearling Sale graduate.
Tony Sedillo trains the bay gelding for owners Michael Valenzuela and Daniel Joe Valenzuela. Jorge Haddad bred Bacardi in Texas from Jess Another Habit by Mr Jess Perry.
A finalist in the Grade 2 West Texas Futurity and the Grade 3 West Texas Derby, Bacardi used the $42,000 Invitational winners' purse to boost his earnings to $76,206.
Runner-up, graded stakes winner Flyin Rabbit 123, earned $18,000 for finishing second. Trainer Tony Keeton named jockey Bryan Candanosa to ride the Texas homebred for owner-breeder Louis A Malecheck, III.
Bacardi rewarded his backers with $100 to win, $33.20 to place and $16.60 to show.
The Flying Cowboy 123 gelding from the Foose mare Hardotget has earned $376,405. He won the Ruidoso Invitational Stakes in June. His full sibling was the second high-seller at the just completed Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale for $550,000.
Mitey Relentless finished a head back to earn $10,000 for third. A stablemate of the winner from the Sedillo barn, Mitey Relentless races for owner Scott Branson and Jimmy Vasquez. Debra Laney bred the earner of nearly $140,000 in New Mexico from the First Moonflash mare Mitey Moon.
Mitey Relentless was second in the $100,000 Rainbow Derby Invitational in July. Luis Martinez was riding.
Post-time favorite Sc Time To Run was a troubled fourth, followed by Unrelentless, First Warning, Trusty Jess, Moes, Trump This Record, and Politiko.
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Live racing returns to the Downs at Albuquerque on Thursday, September 5, with a nine-race card. The first post is at 5:05 p.m. (MDT).