Tag: Racing

Kj Desparado Flies Home To Capture $3 Million All American Futurity

Kj Desparado got up in the final strides to win the $3 million All American Futurity on Sunday at Ruidoso Downs Race Track, flying home before a crowd of thousands who attended the final day of the 2021 racing season.

The victory was sweet for jockey Adrian Ramos and trainer Wes Giles who won their first All American Futurity. It was also a first victory for owners John and Kathy Lee of Chandler, Arizona, along with their partner Ruben Mares.

“I remember in the springtime Adrian assured me that this was the kind of horse that could win the All American and it turned out to be true,” Giles said in the winner's circle. “Right now I just feel blessed to have this horse in my barn and to be associated with the owners who made this possible.”

Kj Desarado broke third from the number-nine starting gate and needed to catch frontrunner Fdd Scout who had the lead in the eleventh race all the way until the final strides when the gelding got up just in time.

“It was a hard-fought win,” rider Ramos said in the winner's circle. “I had faith in my horse from the start. He has been strong all season and finally put it all together today.”

Meanwhile betting favorite Jess Savin Candy, attempting to win the quarter horse racing triple crown, did not offer his anticipated late-charge and finished fourth. The gelding was vanned from the track as a precaution at the request of jockey Francisco Calderon, according to trainer John Stinebaugh.

Kj Desparado paid $11.80, $4.60 and $3.80 running the 440-yards in a winning time of 21.252 seconds. His sire is Apollitical Jess out of the mare Tres Veses by Tres Seis.

In the $200,000 All American Juvenile, My Peligrosito and jockey Ramos were upset winners at 13-1 odds and paid $29.40, $18.80 and $9.40. They went gate-to-wire in the tenth race in a winning time of 21.168 seconds for 440 yards.

“This horse has been progressing all summer,” Ramos said. “Once we had some daylight he opened up and ran as expected.”

My Poligrosito's sire is One Fabulous Eagle out of the mare Peligrosita by Walk Thru Fire. The gelding is owned by Abelardo Gallegos and trainer by Albert Valles.

In the $200,000 All American Gold Cup, Danjer overcame a slow beginning to nip Mi Amor Secreto by a head in the ninth race and earned a third consecutive trip to the winner's circle.

“My horse's momentum was going backwards when the gate opened,” jockey Cody Smith said in the winner's circle. “We were playing catch up the entire race, but this horse doesn't seem to know how fast he really is. He turned it on when he needed it and we got there just in time.”

Danjer is a 5-year-old with career earnings of about $1.2 million. The gelding's sire is Fdd Dynasty out of the mare Shez Jess Toxic by Take Off Jess. He paid $4.40, $3.00 and $2.40 in a winning time of 21.308 seconds for 440-yards. Danjer has now won thirteen career races including five at Ruidoso Downs.

Racing continues next season at Ruidoso Downs Memorial Day weekend. For more info visit www.raceruidoso.com.

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Minnesota’s Best Line Up In Wednesday’s Festival Of Champions At Canterbury

Minnesota's top Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses will race Wednesday at Canterbury Park in the 28th Minnesota Festival of Champions. The 12-race card, restricted to horses bred in the state, includes six $100,000 stakes and will pay a total of $852,450 in purses. First post is scheduled for 4:10 p.m.

The Festival began in 1992 when Minnesota horsemen were determined to show then-owner Ladbroke Racing Corp., who clearly had little interest in operating the track in the future, that horse racing could thrive in the state. Horse breeders, trainers and owners, including current track CEO Randy Sampson, banded together to present a day of racing that would feature horses bred in the state. The event drew a large crowd and was televised in the Twin Cities. As feared, Ladbroke closed what was then Canterbury Downs at the end of the year. The success of the first Festival however kept the flame alive and two years later Sampson, his father Curtis and South St. Paul businessman Dale Schenian purchased the Shakopee property and returned racing to Minnesota in 1995 at a newly branded Canterbury Park. The Minnesota Festival of Champions has been a focal point each summer since.

Leading trainer Mac Robertson, who has won a record 37 Festival races, is represented in each of the six Thoroughbred stakes and will saddle the morning line favorite in four. Jockey Roimes Chirinos will be aboard each of those including 2-year-old Honey Bella in the Debutante, Ready to Runaway in the Princess Elaine, Cinco Star in the Blair's Cove and Clickbait in the Bella Notte Sprint.

Pete Mattson of Prior Lake looks forward to this night each season. He owns and bred eight horses competing in four of the races and is also breeder of the Northern Lights Futurity favorite Love the Nest that he sold at the Keeneland September sale last fall. Fireman Oscar, entered in the Crocrock Sprint, accounts for both of Mattson's Festival victories. Now seven, he won the 2020 Crocrock and the Futurity as a 2-year-old.

“Festival shows who the best 2-year-olds are. Everything points to these last races,” Mattson said. “You really don't know until they race each other.” The lucrative purses are important to those investing extensively in Minnesota racing as well. “There is a big financial reward if they win,” he said.

While Mattson has a pair of fillies in the Debutante he is higher on his 2-year-old colts, Doctor Oscar and Ben's Malice, in the Futurity.

“Both are going to be very exceptional race horses,” he predicts. The Futurity's field of 10 is the largest of the thoroughbred stakes.

In the quarter horse stakes, Jason Olmstead, who has won seven consecutive training titles at Canterbury, is favored to win both the Minnesota Futurity and Minnesota Derby. Relentless Courage, a three-time winner this summer is 2 to 1 in the 350-yard Futurity and Jess Rocket Man is 8 to 5 in the 400-yard Derby.

The card will offer two pick five wagers, beginning in the first and sixth races. Canterbury offers an industry low 10 percent takeout on the 50 cent pick five as well as the $1 pick six which begins in the fifth race. Additional information is available at www.canterburypark.com .

Stakes Race Line-Up

Race 5 – $100,000 Northern Lights Debutante
Race 6 – $100,000 Princess Elaine Minnesota Distaff Turf
Race 7 – $100,000 Blair's Cove Minnesota Turf
Race 8 – $100,000 Northern Lights Futurity
Race 9 – $100,000 Crocrock Minnesota Sprint
Race 10 – $100,000 Bella Notte Minnesota Distaff Sprint
Race 11 – $62,900 Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity
Race 12 – $60,550 Minnesota Quarter Horse Derby

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Live Racing Returns Over Laurel Park’s Renovated Course On Thursday

A total of 88 horses were entered in nine races, five over a newly reconstructed main track and four on its world-class turf course, as live racing makes its return to Laurel Park Thursday, Sept. 9.

Laurel Park's 59-day fall meet is scheduled to run through Dec. 31. First post is 12:40 p.m. The fall meet will include the 30th running of the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Sept. 18, five turf stakes on Sept. 18, and Maryland Million Day Oct. 23.

Laurel's live program Thursday will be the first since a multi-million rebuilding of its dirt surface and an extended Preakness Meet at Pimlico Race Course ended Aug. 22.

The first turf event of the fall season is scheduled for Race 2, a 1 1/8-mile claiming event for maidens age 3, 4 and 5 to be contested over the Dahlia course layout. It attracted an overflow field of 14 including main track only entrant King Alan; Mr. J. McKay, a full brother to Miss J McKay, winner of the 2019 Anne Arundel County over the Laurel turf; and new gelding Emphasize, a $180,000 son of 2016 Preakness (G1) winner Exaggerator.

In all, 52 horses were entered for the grass on opening day, an average of 13 per race. Laurel's expansive 142-foot wide grass course and portable rail allows for six different settings, each named for some of racing's biggest stars – All Along (rail setting), Bowl Game (17 feet), Kelso (35 feet), Dahlia (52 feet), Exceller (70 feet) and Fort Marcy (87 feet).

Eight first-time starters are among 10 2-year-old fillies entered in Race 6, a six-furlong maiden special weight sprint. Among them are Frosty Brew, a son of Frosted purchased for $160,000 as a 2-year-old in training in April and trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey; Prima Ballerina, a $150,000 yearling by Liam's Map for trainer Michael Stidham; and Determined Truth, third in the five-furlong Keswick on the Colonial Downs turf Aug. 2.

The Dahlia turf course will also host an entry-level, one-mile allowance for 3-year-olds and up in Race 7, which drew 16 entries including Manicomio, a popular last-out winner going 1 1/16 miles on the Pimlico grass July 18; stakes-placed Take Profit, most recently fourth by two lengths in the 1 ½-mile Bald Eagle Derby July 24 at Pimlico; 2020 Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap winner Beltway Bob; and American d'Oro, a 3-year-old that beat his elders in a five-furlong turf sprint Aug. 8 at Pimlico.

Race 8 is a first-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up going one mile on the dirt. The field of six includes Tiz Mandate, second in the one-mile Miracle Wood Feb. 20 at Laurel; Erawan, third in Laurel's 1 1/16-mile Howard County as a 2-year-old last December; and the McGaughey-trained Romp, racing for the first time as a gelding following his third-place finish in the Sir Barton May 15 at Pimlico.

The opening day card closes with a maiden special weight sprint for 2-year-old fillies at 5 ½ furlongs over the All Along layout. Six of the 13 entered have yet to start led by Coffee Bean, a son of Uncle Mo trained by Arnaud Delacour; and Kit Keller, a Godolphin homebred daughter of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper; and Little Bit of That, by leading Maryland sire Great Notion. Determined Star, a $120,000 yearling by Honor Code, was fourth by three lengths in a 5 ½-furlong turf dash Aug. 2 at Colonial Downs.

Opening weekend at Laurel Park runs through Sunday, Sept. 12.

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