Fastest qualifier Ruse Man Crystal will head the Grade 2 $230,000 Sires’ Cup Futurity on Saturday at Retama Park.

© Jack Coady Photography

By Louanne Wainscott, StallioneSearch

SELMA, TX–AUGUST 16, 2026–The curtain will fall on the 2026 Retama Park racing season Saturday evening, closing out the Texas summer meet with an 11-race card loaded with stakes action. First post is set for 6:45 p.m., with four stakes races headlining the final night of the season.

The closing-night program will feature the Grade 2 $230,000 Sires’ Cup Futurity, the Grade 3 $100,000 Sires’ Cup Derby, the Grade 3 $61,972 Colors of the Alamo Paint and Appaloosa Futurity, and the $39,737 Colors of the Wind Paint and Appaloosa Maturity.

The evening will also honor several members of the racing community with three memorial races. The fifth race will be dedicated to the Jerry Burgess Memorial, the eighth to the James Weller Memorial, and the 11th and final race of the meet to the Daves Family Classic.

The evening’s richest event arrives in the tenth race, when a field of ten juveniles returns for the Grade 2 $230,000 Sires’ Cup Futurity. The two-year-olds earned their places in the final in the August 7 trial heats and will return to run 350 yards at approximately 10:51 p.m.

Fastest qualifier Ruse Man Crystal will lead the field from the inside rail at post one. The filly delivered an impressive gate-to-wire performance in her trial, quickly taking command and drawing clear to win by two lengths, recording the fastest qualifying time.

Ruse Man Crystal has made three career starts, winning two, with her only other outing resulting in a third-place finish in the Grade 2 $435,000 Oklahoma Futurity. She enters Saturday’s final with $59,818 in earnings for owners K K Horse Racing.

The daughter of KJ Mucho Macho Man is out of the Walk Thru Fire mare Crystal Sola and was bred in Louisiana by Ruse Ranch, LLC. Trainer Jose A. Garcia will send her from post one, with jockey Victor M. Urieta, Jr., aboard.

One race earlier, the sophomores will take center stage in the Grade 3 $100,000 Sires’ Cup Derby. A field of nine three-year-olds will return from the August 8 trial heats to race 400 yards.

Sarah Huskey’s Texas homebred Karma Cha Ching will command attention from the outside post as she enters the final with a four-race winning streak. The talented filly has been unbeaten in four starts this season, with victories that include the $176,000 Sam Houston Oaks and the $46,000 La Villita Stakes.

Karma Cha Ching has five career victories and earnings of $133,302 heading into Saturday night’s championship test.

The daughter of Pa Cha Ching is out of the Tinys First Corona mare Marthas First Corona. She is conditioned by Esteban Rubio and will have jockey Nestor Duran aboard as she attempts to extend her winning streak with another stakes victory.

With the offspring of stallions represented in the Sires’ Cup Stallion Auction competing for two of the evening’s biggest purses, the Sires’ Cup Futurity and Sires’ Cup Derby will provide a fitting showcase on Retama Park’s final card of the season.

From promising juveniles chasing their first major championship to accomplished sophomores seeking another stakes victory to add to their résumés, the two Sires’ Cup finals will anchor a stakes-filled night as Retama Park wraps up its 2026 summer season.

For previews of the Grade 3 $61,972 Colors of the Alamo Paint and Appaloosa Futurity and the $39,737 Colors of the Wind Paint and Appaloosa Maturity, please see the related story.

The races at Retama Park can be watched on Q-Racing Video.

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