Ccr Political Wrap brings a four-race win streak into Monday's Autumn Derby trials at Grants Pass Downs.

© Vince & Linda Williams

By H. David Smith, StallioneSearch

GRANTS PASS, OR–SEPTEMBER 29, 2025–The $40,000-est. Autumn Derby trials for three-year-old Quarter Horses get underway Monday evening at Grants Pass, with two 400-yard trials set to determine the field for the $20,000-added final on October 13.

First post time is 1:00 p.m. PDT.

In the opening trial, the spotlight falls on Secretarysbestcard (2-1), a five-time winner from eight career starts for owner-breeder-trainer Jose Juan Baca of Oregon.

The daughter of multiple stakes sire Docs Best Card out of Chicks Wildcat by Returning TB has earned $64,300 and captured four races as a juvenile, including the John Deere Emerald Downs Juvenile Challenge Stakes. She returns in sharp form after scoring a late-surging win in a 350-yard allowance on June 28 under jockey Jose E. Rodriguez.

Her main opposition comes from Lee Five T (9-2), owned and bred in Oregon by Hernan Torres. The son of champion Five Bar Cartel out of L Bar D Bonnie Lee by Giorgino is trained by Freddy Ibarra and will be ridden by Erick M. De Luna.

Lee Five T, a two-time winner from 12 career starts, exits a determined fourth-place finish in the Adequan Grants Pass Derby Challenge and won the Firecracker at Grants Pass Consolation at 2.

Also in the mix is Riding the Wind (6-1), a bay colt by multiple stakes sire Fly Thru the Fire out of Eyesa Painted Bug by Eyesa Special, bred in California by Sheryl Edgar. Racing for trainer-owner Emilio Guerrero, the $15,000 Los Alamitos Equine Sale purchase has won two of seven starts and was a sharp maiden winner last summer. Jose C. Guerrero will ride him after finishing third in allowance company at Grants Pass in July.

The second trial features another standout in Ccr Political Wrap (2-1), who races for Cedar Creek Tree Farm Ranch and Racing. The homebred Oregon filly by leading sire Apollitical Jess out of Wrap You Up by Walk Thru Fire has five career wins and earnings of $35,393 for trainer Hector Magallanes.

Regular rider Mark A. Jasso has the call. Undefeated in three starts this season, she comes off a dominant win in a 350-yard allowance at Grants Pass on September 8. Ccr Political Wrap won an allowance at Los Alamitos last December.

Tonny Montana (4-1), trained by Sergio Leon for owner Hector Aguilera, looms as the main challenger. The Nevada-bred colt by Whata Corona out of Quick and Jazzy by Bono Jazz has won two of eight starts and was a game allowance winner going 400 yards at Grants Pass in July.

Jockey Salvador Ibarra will be aboard the consistent bay, and he has been in the money for five of his eight career outings.

Another major player is Bee A Tempting Queen (5-1), an Oklahoma-bred filly purchased for $28,000 at Heritage Place Yearling Sale by owner Alberto Avila. Sired by Tempting Dash and out of Signs Of A Blue Moon by Tres Seis, she is trained by Ernesto Avila-Guzman and will be ridden by Jose C. Guerrero.

The filly broke her maiden impressively at Tillamook in August before finishing a close second in a 330-yard allowance earlier this month at Grants Pass.

The fastest qualifiers from both trials will return for the Autumn Derby final on October 13, when a projected purse of $40,000 awaits the region’s top three-year-old Quarter Horses at 400 yards.

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