Flashtoglory looking for third stakes win this year in NM Classic QH Distaff
HOBBS – David Meridyth’s Flashtoglory is seeking to win for the eighth time in her career and pick up her third stakes win in 2025 when she loads into the starting gate as the overwhelming morning line favorite in Sunday’s $100,000 New Mexico Classic Quarter Horse Distaff Stakes.
Owned, bred and trained by Meridyth, Flashtoglory is coming off a convincing win in her most recent start when she won the NM Classic Filly and Mare Championship Stakes (Gr. 1) for the second year in a row under Christian Ramos.
A 5-year-old mare by First Moonflash out of the Feature Mr Jess mare Jp Glory, Flashtoglory earned her first stakes win of the year at Sunland Park when she won the Lou Wooten and Sydney Valentini Handicap (Gr. 2) last January.
A seven-time winner from 25 starts with earnings of more than $496,000, Flashtoglory will once again be ridden by Ramos when they enter the gate from post nine in the 10-horse field. She has been installed as the 7-to-5 morning line favorite in the 350-yard dash.
Robert M. Driggers and Ben Lee Ivey’s Chicka Boom Babe, who finished second behind Flashtoglory in the NM Classic Filly and Mare Championship last time out, will be looking for a measure of revenge under jockey Noe Garcia, Jr.
Bred in New Mexico by the Ivey Cattle Co. and trained by Wes Giles, the daughter of Chicks Regard out of the First Moonflash mare Riverside Babe broke poorly from the gate in her last start before rallying late and narrowly getting the place spot.
Listed as the second choice on the morning line at odds of 9-to-2, Chicka Boom Babe has earned more than $312,000 while winning five times from 22 starts, but is winless in five outings this year. Her most recent win came in a trial heat for the Zia Derby in July 2024, followed by a second place finish in that contest.
Chicka Boom Babe will break from post four in Sunday’s NM Classic Distaff, which will be run as the fifth race on the card with a scheduled post time of 1:53 p.m.
Trainer James J. Gonzales III will send out Copy Of Jess, the 5-to-1 third choice in Sunday’s NM Classsic Distaff Stakes. The 4-year-old mare by Jesse James Jr., bred in New Mexico by MJ Farms, was fourth in the NM Classic Filly and Mare Championship last time out and will be ridden Sunday by Christian Cardenas.
Copy Of Jess is a four-time winner from 17 starts with earnings of more than $124,000. She will break from post six in the NM Classic Distaff.
The field, with morning line odds and riders, for the New Mexico Classic Distaff Stakes:
1 Jm Famousberry (15-1) Ricky Ramirez
2 Jess Emotions (12-1) James Flores
3 Eye for Cambria (15-1) James Belloc, Jr.
4 Chicka Boom Babe (9-2) Noe Garcia, Jr.
5 Big Daddy Farr (8-1) Emilio Tapia
6 Copy of Jess (5-1) Christian Cardenas
7 Good Things Come (12-1) Jacob Enriquez
8 Ebw Dancnthemoonlite (10-1) Jaime Leos
9 Flashtoglory (7-5) Christian Ramos
10 Queen of the Jingle (30-1) Gabriel Medrano
11 AE-Macho Daddys Girl (10-1) Emilio Tapia
12 AE-Big Jessie (6-1) Christian Cardenas