Thirty-Nine Sophomore Fillies Entered in All American Oaks Trials
By BY MICHAEL CUSORTELLI
ALBUQUERQUE, NM–AUGUST 5, 2024–Grade 1 winners Asscher and Running To The Moon are two of the 39 three-year-old fillies entered in Sunday's 440-yard All American Oaks (G1) trials at the Downs at Albuquerque.
Four trials will be contested. The ten fastest qualifiers will meet in the September 1, $500,000 final.
Running To The Moon is coming off of a half-length victory in the 440-yard, $482,000 Rainbow Oaks (G1) at Ruidoso Downs on July 28. Heath Taylor trains the California-bred daughter of champion First Moonflash for owner Valeriano Racing Stables, which purchased the bay filly for $50,000 at the 2022 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale.
Running To The Moon drew post three and will be ridden by Francisco Calderon in the second trial.
Asscher races for Lance Bland and Jimmy Barton from the barn of trainer Marc Jungers. A $350,000 buy at the 2022 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, the sorrel daughter of FDD Dynasty has banked $268,840 from five starts this year. Her three wins include a three-quarter-length victory in the 400-yard, $404,000 Los Alamitos Oaks (G1) on March 23.
Asscher drew post four and will be ridden by Christian Ramos in the first heat.
Other prominent fillies entered in the All American Oaks trials include Flying Sophia and Deep Blue, a pair of graded stakes winners during the Remington Park spring meet. A homebred daughter of Flying Cowboy 123 trained by Mike Joiner for owners Candy and Calder Ezzell of Roswell, New Mexico, Flying Sophia defeated aged distaffers with her half-length victory in the 400-yard, $100,000 Junos Request Stakes (G1) on June 1.
Flying Sophia drew post two and will be ridden by Francisco Calderon in the first trial.
Deep Blue will be making her first start since June 1, when she scored a neck victory in the 400-yard, $297,000 Heritage Place Oaks (G2). John Stinebaugh trains the daughter of champion A Revenant for owner RDS Legacy Racing LLC.
Deep Blue drew post two and will be ridden by Ali Rivera in the second heat.
All Albuquerque Downs races can be seen at Q-Racing Video.com.