ALL AMERICAN DERBY HOPEFULS

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Photo Courtesy: Remington Park, Ruidoso Downs,
Lone Star Park

Sophomore Stars Come Out For All American Derby Trials

2007 All American Derby Hopefuls

RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—AUGUST 13, 2007—Rainbow Derby winner Separate Bet and Ruidoso Derby winner Remember Me Rose lead an exceptionally deep group of 29 sophomores in the four trials to the Grade 1, $500,000 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs on Friday at Ruidoso Downs.
There is a special 12 noon first post time on Friday and Saturday so horsemen will have ample time to attend the Ruidoso New Mexico-bred Yearling Sale after the races. The usual 1 p.m. first post time returns for the Sunday racing program.

The 10-fastest qualifiers from the 440-yard derby trials are eligible to compete in the All American Derby on Sept. 2. The summer season concludes on Labor Day, Sept. 3, with the running of the finals to the Grade 1, $2 million All American Futurity.

Arguably, the Paul Jones-trained Separate Bet is the best Quarter Horse in training and if he comes through with an All American Derby win it would be a major step towards a possible world championship.

The All American Derby winner receives an automatic invitation to the Grade 1, $1 million Champion Of Champions at Los Alamitos and Separate Bet would travel west join the Los Alamitos branch of the Jones barn. Jones has won four of the latest five Champion Of Champions runnings and a victory for the Separatist offspring in the All American Derby and the Champion Of Champions would go a long way to earning the 3-year-old gelding the world title.

Separate Bet has laid the foundation for a world championship run in his three sensational starts at Ruidoso Downs this summer. He returned from a winter’s rest and knee surgery to set the Ruidoso Downs’ 400-yard track record of :19.18 with an allowance victory. He then easily won his Rainbow Derby trial and rolled in the Rainbow Derby to a two-and-three-quarter length victory. Each of his three 2007 wins have been by more than two lengths.

Separate Bet drew in the first trial, the third race, and will have Freddie Martinez aboard with the sixth post position.

Separate Bet will face Valiant Hero and Dont Let Down in the trial, making this race more like a Grade 1 stakes than a trial race.

Valiant Hero, a sale-topping $500,000 purchase at the 2005 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, has earned $642,998 and is worth much more as a stallion prospect. The son of leading sire First Down Dash and broodmare of the year Corona Chick capped his 2-year-old season with a win in the Grade 1, $1 million Texas Classic Futurity and won the Grade 2 Heritage Place Derby this spring.

The Mike Joiner-trained Valiant Hero was second to Separate Bet in the Rainbow Derby as the even-money favorite after setting the fastest qualifying time.

National champion jockey G.R. Carter Jr. rides Valiant Hero with the seventh post position, next to Separate Bet.

Bobby Cox’s Dont Let Down, trained by John Buchanan, finished third in the All American Futurity behind No Secrets Here and is making his first start since finishing second to Valiant Hero in the Heritage Place Derby.

Regular rider Juan Vasquez rides the Stoli gelding with the third post position.

Jones will also saddle last year’s All American Futurity winner No Secrets Here in the second trial, the fourth race. He returned from his winter’s rest to finish second in a very fast 350-yard allowance race at Los Alamitos to 2006 champion 2-year-old gelding Jess You And I, who burst to an early lead. No Secrets Here, who prefers a longer distance, was never able to reel in Jess You And I, but that race certainly helped No Secret Here’s fitness in preparation for the All American Derby, his primary summer objective.

The First Down Dash colt then came to Ruidoso and turned in a bullet work at 220 yards that was the best of 24 horses working the distance on July 23.

Last Labor Day, No Secrets Here flew over a very sloppy racing surface to win the All American Futurity in a stakes record :20.88. He earned $1 million of his career earnings of $1,378,895 with his All American Futurity win.

No Secrets Here will have Cody Jensen up with the outside post position in the 7-horse field.

The third trial, the fifth race, brings together $40,000 supplemental nominee Remember Me Rose and Okey Dokey Fantasy.

The Ben Torres-trained Remember Me Rose is the gamest of stakes competitors, a virtue she displayed in the Grade 1 Ruidoso Derby. In that 400-yard test, she ran down fastest-qualifier La Lalique to win by a head.

Remember Me Rose has finished in the top two in 10 of her 12 career starts. She won the $300,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship, the Grade 2 Ford Juvenile Challenge Championship and the Grade 2 Sunland Winter Futurity. She was second in last summer’s Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity as the 1-2 favorite.

Esgar Ramirez rides the Corona Cartel filly from the fourth post position.

Okey Dokey Fantasy was Quarter Horse racing’s premier juvenile for the first half of 2006 when he started his career with eight straight wins, including Grade 1 wins in the Manor Downs Futurity and the Ruidoso Futurity. He concluded his 2-year-old season with a second in the Southwest Juvenile Championship behind Remember Me Rose.

In his only 2007 start, the Sleepy Gilbreath-trained Okey Dokey Dale gelding finished second to Separate Bet in their Rainbow Derby trial. He then was scratched from the Rainbow Derby.

Juan Vazquez rides Okey Dokey Fantasy with the sixth post position.