RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—JULY 21, 2018—Melvin Neugabauer's Uptown Dynasty showed his class in the final 100 yards to win the $100,000 Corona Cartel Stakes, a race Saturday afternoon for horses who did not qualify for the Rainbow Derby.

The 4-5 favorite Uptown Dynasty, starting from the outside post position, found his stride under champion jockey G.R. Carter Jr. and was clearly the best horse. He won by one-half length in :21.497 for the 440 yards.

A gelding son of Mr Jess Perry, Uptown Dynasty has been a consistent Grade 1 competitor for trainer Wes Giles. He finished in a dead heat for the win in last year's Grade 1, $800,000 Ruidoso Futurity and then finished second in the Grade 1 $1,000,000 Rainbow Futurity. He followed those races by qualifying for the Grade 1, $3,000,000 All American Futurity and the Grade 1 $760,000 Ruidoso Derby.

Bred in Oklahoma by Sam Green, from the FDD Dynasty mare Ms Southern Dynasty, Uptown Dynasty has compiled a (11) 7-2-0 record and earned over $721,000.

Runner-up Wagon Chick V races for owner MJR Investments Ltd. Clinton Crawford trains the daughter of leading sire Pyc Paint Your Wagon from the Major Rime mare Me Chickie. Bred in Oklahoma by Valeriano Racing Stables, Inc., the bay filly earned $18,414 for finishing second. A finalist in the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity last year and the Grade 3 Heritage Place Derby this season, Wagon Chick V has earned $106,957.

Splendid Cause dead-heated with Mister Moody Blue for third. Each took home $9,207 for their effort.

Splendid Cause, an Oklahoma homebred racing for owner-breeders J. Garvin Kelly, Nancy Yearsley and J. Lloyd Yother, is a daughter of 2018 leading sire Apollitical Jess from the graded stakes winning and producing Tres Seis mare Answer The Dream. Juan Aleman saddled with James Flores getting the riding call aboard the sorrel filly who shipped to Ruidoso from the West Coast where she was sixth in the Grade 3 La Primera Del Ano Derby in March. She earned $18,414 to bring her earnings mark to $58,656.

The royally-bred Mister Moody Blue is a One Famous Eagle half-brother to world champion Blues Girl Too. Wesley Giles conditions the sorrel colt for owner Butch Wise and Stephanie Web. Lucky Seven Ranch bred Mister Moody Blue in Oklahoma from the Sixarun mare Run The Dash. He picked up $18,414 for the effort.

Intense Fire, Hierarch, First Be Graceful, Fly Baby Fly and Vf Zeus completed the field.

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