Pepsi Cola Handicap

Sent to post at odds of nearly 8-1 in a full field of 10 New Mexico-breds, Jesses Wish rallied to win Saturday's $100,000 Pepsi Cola Handicap (R) at Sunland Park.

Jesses Wish covered 350 yards in :17.514 while racing against a reported 12-mph head wind, and his margin of victory was a neck from Flash Divine. Jose De Herrera trained and James Flores rode the 4-year-old Jesse James Jr gelding for owners Javier M. Chavez and Heysol Howlet.

Jesses Wish was bred by Mac and Janis Murray's MJ Farms at Veguita, New Mexico, and he was a $50,000 yearling purchase at the 2021 New Mexico-Bred Sale at Ruidoso Downs. The bay gelding was shortening in distance off of his second-place finish, 1 1/4 lengths behind winner White Lightenin, in the January 14, 400-yard Red or Green Stakes (RG2) at Sunland Park.

Jesses Wish is out of Wish You Had One To, a multiple graded stakes placed Stel Corona mare. The gelding has won four of 16 races, and the $60,000 winner's share of the purse from his second career stakes score boosted his earnings to $279,542.

White Lightenin, the 11-10 favorite, finished fourth, 1 3/4 lengths behind Jesses Wish.

AQHA News and information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHA Racing on Twitter, "like" Q-Racing on Facebook, and visit www.aqha.com/racing.