New Mexico State Fair QH Futurity headlines attractive Sunday program
ALBUQUERQUE – Nearly $2 million in purse money will be awarded Sunday at Albuquerque Downs as the track hosts one of its biggest days of the season, featuring four stakes races for New Mexico-bred thoroughbreds and quarter horses.
A field of 10 statebred quarter horses will line up in the starting gate for the featured event, the New Mexico State Fair Quarter Horse Futurity, worth a purse of more than $1.15 million, which will be run at a distance of 400 yards. The Grade 2 event, restricted to New Mexico-breds, is the richest futurity in the country exclusively for statebred shortliners.
The field of 10 starters qualified for the Futurity when trials were held here on Sept. 19.
In addition to the State Fair QH Futurity, which will be run for a purse of nearly $1.16 million, the $100,000 NM State Fair QH Juvenile will feature a field of 10 starters, all of whom just missed qualifying for the Futurity, but finished among the next 10 fastest qualifiers.
Owner-trainer Fred Danley will saddle Pour Me A Drinkk, the fastest qualifier for the QH Futurity, which will be run as the finale of a nine-race program. The 2-year-old gelded son of Prospect To The Top earned that role when he won his trial heat over this course on Sept. 19, racing 400 yards in a time of 19.272 seconds, winning his trial heat by more than four lengths.
Pour Me A Drinkk is a son of the unraced First Moonflash mare First Cowgirl Flash. The damsire, one of the most popular quarter horses of his generation, was a 14-time winner with earnings of nearly $970,000. Among First Moonflash’s biggest wins was the 2008 and 2009 Championship at Sunland Park, as well as the 2008 and 2009 Jess Burner Handicap and the 2009 Mesilla Valley Speed Handicap.
Pour Me A Drinkk was installed at odds of 6-to-1 on the morning and drew the No. 5 post in the 10-horse field. He will be ridden once again by jockey James Flores.
Trainer Wes Giles, who has saddled the winner in each of the last two runnings of the NM State Fair QH Futurity, will have a pair of runners in Sunday’s edition, including Hez Rio Trouble, winner of the sixth trial race in a time of 19.619 seconds.
Hez Rio Trouble (12-to-1 ML) drew the No. 2 post and will be ridden by Emilio Tapia.
Also representing Giles’ barn will be Czar Catrina, who became the ninth fastest qualifier for the finals after his narrow second-place finish behind Holliday in the second trial heat. A 20-to-1 longshot on the morning line, Czar Catrina will be ridden by Noe Garcia Jr. and will break from post 7 in the futurity, which has a scheduled post time of 4:50 p.m.
Trainer Clinton Crawford, currently leading the standings among quarter horse conditioners with 15 winners this season, also found his way into the finals for the NM State Fair QH Futurity when he saddled Sure Hit to a near two-length score under Jacob Enriquez in Friday’s fifth trial heat. The pair will be reunited Sunday and will break from post 8 at odds of 15-to-1 on the morning line.
Owned by Christopher Lykins, Conda Maze and Downtime Enterprises LLC, Sure Hit finished third earlier this year in the $216,000 New Mexico Breeders Futurity at SunRay Park and Casino. The son of Jet Black Patriot was a Ruidoso New Mexico Bred QH Yearling Sale purchase for $26,000 and is now a two-time winner from four career starts.
The richest qualifier for the State Fair QH Futurity is unbeaten Luxurie, a winner in each of his three career starts, including the Mountain Top New Mexico Bred Futurity on June 15 at Ruidoso Downs.
The son of Big Daddy Cartel was purchased for $300,000 at the 2024 Ruidoso New Mexico Bred QH Yearling Sale by owners Triple R Racing Stables LLC, Wallace Lynn Landrum, Ted Rushing and Rancho El 48 LLC. Luxurie is one of two starters in the Futurity trained by James J Gonzales III and enters the race with earnings of more than $155,000 for his connections.
Luxurie, the 2-to-1 morning line favorite for the Futurity, earned his way into the starting gate as the sixth-fastest qualifier for the race when he won the fourth trial heat. He will break from the outside post and will be piloted once again by Christian Cardenas.
Gonzales will also be represented by the unbeaten MW Bcause Im First, who has racked up four wins from as many starts. The daughter of B Cause Im A Hero qualified for the Futurity with a clocking of 19.57 seconds when winning the 11th trial of the day.
MW Bcause Im First has earned nearly $60,000 for owners Larry Marcum and Nancy Wells and goes into the gate as the 3-to-1 second choice on the morning line.
The field, with morning line odds and jockey for the $1.1 million NM State Fair QH Futurity:
1 Mw Bcause Im First 3-1 Francisco Calderon
2 Hez Rio Trouble 12-1 Emilio Tapia
3 Cq Coyame Jessy 20-1 Christian Ramos
4 Holliday 10-1 Bryan Candanosa
5 Pour Me a Drinkk 6-1 James Flores
6 Chamacuz 20-1 Flavio Lozano
7 Czar Catrina 20-1 Noe Garcia, Jr.
8 Sure Hit 15-1 Jose Enriquez
9 Eddy Cartel 4-1 Joseph Belloc, Jr.
10 Luxurie 2-1 Christian Cardenas
Prior to the running of the NM State Fair QH Futurity will be the $100,000 NM State Fair QH Juvenile, headlined by 3-to-1 morning line favorite Ima Gonna B Famous.
Owned by Haskell and Jacque Rich and trained by Crawford, Ima Gonna B Famous finished second, beaten a length behind MW Bcause Im First last time out. The son of Docs Best Card was a $40,000 purchase at the 2024 Ruidoso New Mexico Bred QH Yearling Sale. He goes into the starting gate looking for his first career win and will be piloted by Enriques. The pair will break from the 4-hole in the Juvenile, which has a scheduled post of 4 p.m.
Ima Gonna B Famous is out of the One Famous Eagle mare Miss Famous Eagle, a stakes winner and earner of more than $114,000 in 14 career starts. The damsire earned more than $1.3 million in his career with stakes wins including the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in 2007 as well as the Golden State Derby and Los Alamitos Super Derby in 2008.
Trainer Xavier Rodriguez will send out 4-to-1 second choice Highcardforapoke and jockey Luis Martinez. The son of Rrelentless finished fourth in the same trial heat as Futurity starter Eddy Cartel and will break from post 7 in the Juvenile. Owned by Bert Eldridge, Highcardforapoke has one win from six career starts with a second place finish in the New Mexico Spring Futurity last April at Sunland Park.
The field, with morning line odds and riders for the $100,000 NM State Fair QH Juvenile:
1 Beyond Big Daddy 15-1 Jordy Muniz
2 Jm Shez My Lady 20-1 Gabriel Medrano
3 Love Trucken 10-1 Francisco Calderon
4 Ima Gonna B Famous 3-1 Jose Enriquez
5 Notjessaprettyface 6-1 Christian Reyes
6 King of the Rode 9-2 Christian Cardenas
7 Highcardforapoke 4-1 Luis Martinez
8 Woodcutt 5-1 Sergio Becerra, Jr.
9 Dads On a Roll 15-1 Bryan Candanosa
10 King Dynasty 15-1 Raul Ortega
11 AE-Aggie Moon 20-1 Joseph Belloc, Jr. 12 AE-Prime Time Eagle 20-1 Francisco Calderon