Love Samba (pictured) was the fastest qualifier in the trials for the $625,000 Rainbow Futurity at Ruidoso Downs Thursday. The New Mexico track featured a 20-race card with 192 two-year-olds, all running in the trials of the Rainbow. Love Samba is owned by Jim D. Pitts and trained by Blane Wood and covered the 400 yards in 19.542 seconds or just under 55 mph.Favorite Trick, the now deceased thoroughbred sire, named the 1997 Horse of the Year, had two qualifiers in second-fastest qualifier Stepenos (19.632) and Favorite Cartel (19.752). The latter of which races for Mark Allen's Double Eagle Farms of Mine That Bird fame.
Favorite Trick was the first 2-year-old since Secretariat in 1972 to go undefeated in the same year that he was named Horse of the Year. Trained by Pat Byrne, Favorite Trick scored his big win in the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was retired after his 3-year-old season with 12 wins from 16 starts and earnings of $1,726,793.
Trainer Paul Jones qualified four of the ten qualifiers and jockey Cody Jensen rode three finalists.
The Rainbow Futurity is the second leg of the Quarter Horse Triple Crown with the finals to be run July 19.
Photo courtesy of Ruidoso Downs.
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