ALBUQUERQUE, NM—SEPTEMBER 22, 2019—Jess Saying held off Showmethedoe by a neck to get her first career stakes win on Sunday in the $154,522 La Fiesta Derby at The Downs at Albuquerque. Whole Lota Cheyenne was another neck back in the blanket finish to get third.

Ridden by jockey Alfredo Sigala, Jess Saying completed the 400 yards in :19.658 seconds, with a 4 mph tail wind, to equal a 90 speed index. Trainer Cynthia Gonzalez saddled the daughter of leading sire Mr Jess Perry to her third career win for owners Jimmy and Angelia Vasquez.

"She got a pretty good break, and that was it," said Gonzalez. "I was concerned before the start because a horse next to us was moving around in the gate, but my filly just stood calmly and then did her job."

Jess Saying was bred by Jerry Windham of College Station, Texas, a longtime breeder of racing Quarter Horses who was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2006. A $27,000 purchase at the 2017 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, the filly is out of First Down Sixes, a winning daughter of all-time leading sire First Down Dash who ran second in the ’05 Ford Central Juvenile Challenge Stakes (G3) at Canterbury Park in Minnesota.

Jess Saying has won three of 12 starts, and the $77,276 winner’s share of the La Fiesta Derby purse pushed her bankroll to $166,165. The filly’s resume includes a second-place finish, a nose behind winner Eagle Coast, in last year’s Grade 2, $344,000 Hobbs America Futurity at Zia Park.

Luis Gonzalez' Showmethedoe earned $30,911 for second, doubling his career total to nearly $65,000. Ramon Mendoza saddled the son of All American Futurity(G1) winner No Secrets Here. Sergio Becerra, Jr. had the riding call aboard the three-time winner. Steve Berry bred Showmethedoe in Utah from the Hennessy (TB) mare Bundle Doe.

Wesley T. Giles saddled third-place finisher Whole Lota Cheyenne for owner/breeder Ezra Elton Lee. Alan Hernandez rode the daughter of leading third-crop sire Lota Pyc from the Panther Mountain mare Cheyenne Mountain. The brown filly earned $18,546 for the effort.

Taking The Stage, Sweet Temptation, New Moon Dynasty, Koolnfabulous, Calipso Cole, Lethal Moon and Faster Then U completed the field. Flash Gordon was scratched.

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Albuquerque Downs Racetrack and Casino is located in the heart of Albuquerque at Expo New Mexico, the home of the New Mexico State Fair, and general admission and parking are always free (via the casino entrance on Louisiana and Central). For more information, visit abqdowns.com and click on the "Racing" link at the top of the homepage.