Racing


Ratification Tops Field In First Ever Trials For $314,600 Ruidoso Oaks
Ratification, under jockey Francisco Calderon, gets to top qualifying time in Sunday's Rainbow Oaks trials at Ruidoso Downs.

© Jake Rogers / Ruidoso Downs
Ratification Tops Field In First Ever Trials For $314,600 Ruidoso Oaks

RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—JULY 5, 2020—In the first ever trials for the 440 yard Rainbow Oaks, Bobby D. Cox's Ratification posted the top mark after an eye catching two length win in the third trial.

The 10 fastest qualifiers, from four trials for 3-year-old fillies eligible for the 2020 Rainbow Derby who opted at time of entry to start in the "distaff only" version of the Rainbow, will return to Ruidoso Downs on Saturday, July 18th to vie for the winner's share of the $314,600 purse.

Ridden by jockey Francisco Calderon, Ratification completed the 440 yards in a quick :21.293 clocking, with a 7 mph tailwind, to equal a 98 speed index and establish the top mark.

A homebred daughter of leading sire Apollitical Jess, Ratification races for owner-breeder Bobby D. Cox. Conditioned by longtime trainer John Buchanan, the sorrel filly has compiled a (10) 4-1-1 record and banked $66,078.

Fernweh, under jockey Ricky Ramirez, post a 2-½ length win in the final trial. © Jack Rogers / Ruidoso Downs
"Our filly qualified last summer for the Rainbow Futurity and pulled a muscle, so we quit on her and let her rest," said trainer John Buchanan. "She’s grown up now and put on an additional 150 pounds so she’s very strong. She has one gear, so she was motoring down the race track. We’ll have our hands full in the final with Fernweh."

Out of the Grade 2 winner and All American Futurity(G1) runner-up Shesa First Ratify by First Down Dash, Ratification was a finalist in the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity last season as well third in the Golden State Juvenile at Los Alamitos Race Course.

Grade 1 Ruidoso Futurity winner Fernweh kept her record a perfect 5-for-5 when she scampered to a 2-½ length win under champion jockey Ricky Ramirez in the final trial. The daughter of 2020 leading sire Favorite Cartel posted a :21.350 clocking with a 5 mph tailwind to get the second fastest time.

Southern Wagon, under jockey James Flores, winning the opening trial. © Jack Rogers / Ruidoso Downs
Trainer Charles Duke Shults conditions the Oklahoma-bred filly for owner Rusty Allred. She entered the final off a restricted Grade 2 stakes win on March 18th in the $268,700 Remington Park Oklahoma Bred Derby.

"She’s as good as it gets," said trainer Duke Schults. "She does everything right all the time. It’s a real privilege to train such a fine filly."

Also bred by Bobby D. Cox, from the Mr Jess Perry mare Jess A Lil Bit More, Fernweh has earned $545,918.

Jess Find Me, under jockey Raul Ramirez, Jr., qualifies from in the second trial Sunday. © Jake Rogers / Ruidoso Downs
According to Schultz, Fernweh was hand-ridden by Ramirez today: "He told me that he didn’t ask her at all. He looked up to see what the flag was doing and realized that she was going to be fine qualifying."

Dunn Ranch's homebred Southern Wagon won the opening trial by one-length, under champion jockey James Flores, to get the third fastest clocking of :21.393 seconds, with a 3 mph crosswind.

Leading trainer Monty Arrossa conditions the daughter of multiple stakes sire Pyc Paint Your Wagon from the Shazoom mare Marys Southernpolicy. The 3-year-old filly has compiled a (13) 6-2-1 record and entered the trials off a win in the La Pacifica Handicap at Los Alamitos Race Course on May 9. She was also second in the Los Alamitos Oaks (G3) earlier this year. Southern Wagon has banked $170,651.

Jess Find Me, a daughter of leading sire Mr Jess Perry, won the second trial to post the eighth fastest clocking of :21.679 seconds, with a 4 mph tailwind.

Michael Joiner conditions the lightly raced filly for owners Joan Dale Hubbard, Izora Southway, Johnny Cope and Ray Willis. Raul Ramirez was aboard the filly who bounced off a troubled 9th place finish in the Ruidoso Maiden trials on June 14th to break her maiden in her fourth career start and qualify for the Rainbow Oaks.

McColee Land & Livestock LLC bred Jess Find Me from the Grade 1 producer First Lady Amber, by Heza Fast Man.

For a complete list of 2020 Rainbow Oaks qualifiers, with times, sires, dams, owns, breeders, trainers and jockeys CLICK HERE.

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