Cavenaugh, Crawford, Smith Sweep Rainbow Futurity and Rainbow Juvenile
© Track Magazine
RUIDOSO DOWNS, New Mexico (July 21, 2019) — Owner Cavenaugh Quarter Horses, LLC; trainer Clint Crawford and jockey Cody Rodger Smith dominated Sunday afternoon at Ruidoso Downs.
Their Uncle D (*Heritage Place Graduate) easily won the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Rainbow Futurity.
Uncle D raced to the lead from the first jump out of the gate and then powered away to a one-and-one-quarter length win over 8-5 favorite Hotsempting. Df Mischievious Jess was a head behind Hotsempting in third.
A colt by Corona Cartel and out of Little Surfer by First Down Dash, Uncle D raced the 400 yards in :19.619 for his third win from four career starts. His only setback was a second-place run in the Grade 1, $1,073,100 Heritage Place Futurity as the 9-5 favorite. “He got a poor start and didn’t have a good trip,” Crawford said of the Heritage Place Futurity.
It was a different story in the Rainbow Futurity. “It was easy,” Smith said of the Rainbow Futurity. “I thought he needed that race in the trial.”
Uncle D made his Ruidoso Downs debut in the Rainbow Futurity trials on July 6 and raced to the fourth-fastest qualifying time from the second day of trials. The final field was comprised of the horses with the five-fastest times on each of the two days of 400-yard trials.
“I’m kinda new (to racing),” Don Cavenaugh of Cavenaugh Quarter Horses, LLC said. “Last year, we bought quite a few. Clint and Renee (Wilson) picked them out.”
Crawford said that they looked at Uncle D at the Heritage Place September Yearling Sale and then went and looked at other horses. “We kept going back to him so we bought him,” Crawford said.
Bred in Utah by McColee Land & Cattle LLC, Cavenaugh paid $170,000 for the colt.
Uncle D has the breeding to be a top sire prospect when his racing days conclude. The Corona Cartel son is out of a full sister to champions and Champion of Champions winners Ocean Runaway and Wave Carver. Each of those horses proved to be sires.
“I’m just excited to win my first Grade 1 win,” Cavenaugh said. “It’s just a blessing to have this team. It’s a team effort.”
Miguel Gallegos and Mauricio Gallegos’ Hotsempting drew the favorite’s role after she easily raced to the fastest-qualifying time of :19.512 on the first day of Rainbow Futurity trials.
A $49,000 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale purchase, Hotsempting finished seventh in the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Ruidoso Futurity before winning her Rainbow Futurity trial by three-and-three-quarter lengths.
The Tempting Dash-sired Hotsempting is trained by Jose Luis Muela, who won the Rainbow Derby on Saturday with Eagle Coast, and was ridden by Esgar Ramirez. Fulton Quien Sabe Ranches LP bred the filly from the Tres Seis mare Pandorum. She is a half-sister to champion and last year’s All American Derby(G1) winner Hotstepper.
DF Mischievous (*Heritage Place Graduate) partners’ Df Mischievious Jess, a $30,000 supplemental nominee to enter the Rainbow Futurity trials, was third in the Heritage Place Juvenile and then won his Rainbow Futurity trial with the first day’s second-fastest time of :19.755. Jimmy Padgett trains the gelding by Apollitical Jess and Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo was aboard.
Bred in Oklahoma by Darling Farms, from the Corona Cartel mare Mischievous Player, Df Mischievious Jess earned $100,000 for the effort.
Rocket Seis, Valiant Astica, Love Is Everything, Jesses Dashair, Ratification and Analytix completed the field. Dash For Glitter was scratched.
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