ALBUQUERQUE – Trainer James J. Gonzales III is scheduled to have four starters when a field of 10 quarter horses reaches the starting gate for Sunday’s $310,303 Mountain Top Futurity at Albuquerque Downs.
The restricted Grade 2 event, which will be run at a distance of 350 yards, features the fastest New Mexico-bred shortliners to qualify for the final when trials were held May 29.
Gonzales will be represented by Shafer, the fastest qualifier for the Futurity and the likely post-time favorite. The son of Big Daddy Cartel won his debut by 2¼ lengths, stopping the clock in 17.297 seconds.
Owned by Triple R Racing Stables LLC, Tye Baca, Tungsten Racing Partnership and Ted Rushing, Shafer will need to do his best running from the rail in the Futurity final. He will once again be ridden by Christian Cardenas.
Gonzales will also be represented by Sand and Sea, Felton Road and Cartel Stars, each coming off second-place efforts in their trial starts.
Trainer David Gomez-Barraza saddles Perrys Alibi, the second-fastest qualifier for the Futurity with a clocking of 17.385 seconds in his half-length trial victory.
The son of BP Cartels Alibi, owned by Upper Valley Racing Partners LLC, will break from post six with jockey Jaime Leos in the irons.
Post time for the Mountain Top Futurity, the ninth race on Sunday’s 10-race card, is scheduled for 4:50 p.m.
Saturday night, the spotlight will shine on state-bred 3-year-olds in the $180,028 Mountain Top Derby, which will be run as the ninth race on a 10-race program.
Once again, trainer Wes Giles figures to have a strong presence in a stakes event this season. Giles trained GF Shes Sinful to a victory in the Ruidoso Derby last weekend and is currently the second-leading quarter horse trainer this season.
Giles will saddle three horses in the 350-yard dash, topped by Cq Coyame Jessy, the second-fastest qualifier for the Derby when trials were held May 30.
Cq Coyame Jessy, listed at 8-to-1 on the morning line, will break from post five under Noe Garcia Jr. He won his trial heat by a neck in 17.110 seconds.
Owned by Israel Bordier, Cq Coyame Jessy will be in search of his fifth win from 11 career starts when he loads into the gate for the Mountain Top Derby, which has a scheduled post time of 9:25 p.m.
Cq Coyame Jessy already owns a stakes win, having reached the winner’s circle at Sunland Park on April 4, winning the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association Stakes.
Giles will also be represented in the Derby by Mi Capitan and Hez Rio Trouble, both coming into the race off narrow losses in their trial heats.
Favoritism at post time of the Mountain Top Derby may fall on the shoulders of Gerald Marr trainee Pour Me a Drinkk, who won his trial heat by nearly two lengths under Oscar Andrade Jr. in 17.012 seconds.
Pour Me a Drinkk, also a prior stakes winner with earnings topping $184,000, is owned by Bob McClure and Sandra Barrett. The son of Prospect to the Top won the New Mexico Classic Futurity at Zia Park last November and has five wins from nine starts.
Breaking from post eight in the Derby, Pour Me a Drinkk has won twice from four starts over the course and is the third choice on the morning line at odds of 9-to-2.
Luxurie, the 5-to-2 morning line favorite, comes from the barn of Gonzales and is looking for his second career stakes win. The son of Big Daddy Cartel won the Mountain Top Futurity at Ruidoso Downs as a 2-year-old last year and has five wins from seven career starts.
Joseph Belloc, Jr. will ride Luxurie from post seven in the Derby after winning his trial heat by three-quarters of a length and reaching the finals as the seventh-fastest qualifier.