Aj Top Secret (#6) holds off Stay Calm (#9) to set the fastest time for the $112,610 Ruidoso Maiden Stakes (not black type) at Ruidoso Downs Racetrack & Casino on Sunday.

© Victoria Garcia / Ruidoso Downs

RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM–JUNE 2, 2024–Making his first start since a fifth-place effort in the Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby on March 24, Aj Top Secret broke his maiden in his seventh career start while setting the fastest time from eight trials contested today for the $112,610 Ruidoso Maiden Stakes (not black type) at Ruidoso Downs Racetrack & Casino.

The 10 fastest qualifiers will return to the mountain racetrack on Saturday, June 15, to vie for a winner's purse valued at $47,296, going a distance of 350 yards,

Champion jockey Rodrigo Vallejo hustled Aj Top Secret to an early lead, then completed the 350 yards in 17.660 seconds, an 88-speed index into an 11 mph headwind, to record the fastest trial time of the day.

Champion trainer M. Heath Taylor conditions the 3-year-old son of  Apollitical Jess for champion owner Bobby D. Cox.  Rancho El Cabresto, Inc. bred the gray gealing in Oklahoma from the Fishers Dash mare Taka Puna.   Aj Top Secret has earned $22,102 from seven career starts.

Stay Calm, a lightly raced daughter of multiple stakes sire Separate Interest, finished a neck off the fastest qualifier to get the second fastest clocking of 17.687 seconds.

Racing for owner Robert D. Smith and trainer James J. Gonzales III, Stay Calm has placed twice in five career starts. Steve D. Burns, DVM, bred the filly in California from the A Regal Choice mare A Regal Classic.

CLICK HERE for the complete list of Ruidoso Maiden Stakes (not black type) qualifiers with times, sires, dams, owners, breeders, trainers, and jockeys.

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Racing returns Friday (Jun 7) at Ruidoso Downs with a 10 race card that includes two trials for the Mountain Top Thoroughbred Futurity. Post time is set for 1 p.m. (MDT).