Following is a recap of all official American Quarter Horse stakes and trials for the week of June 16-22. For recaps of most graded stakes, AQHA Racing Challenge stakes and trials, and most stakes with purses of $100,000 or more, see the individual recaps in the Racing News section. This page will be updated throughout the week.

Delta Downs
Delta Downs hosted a trio of qualifying trials for this year’s Delta Downs Oaks (R) for Louisiana-breds on Wednesday night. The 10 fastest 3-year-old fillies punched their ticket to the final of the $134,755 race, which will take place on closing night of the season, Saturday, July 12.

Recording the quickest clocking of the evening was San Lorenzo Luna ($3.60), who won the third trial on the card and was ridden by jockey Randy Edison Jr. San Lorenzo Luna posted a time of :19.838 for 400 yards, which earned her a speed index of 96.

San Lorenzo Luna is owned by Rogelio Marquez Jr. and is trained by Jeremy Derozin. That duo also qualified the second- and third-fastest qualifiers, San Lorenzo Princess and San Lorenzo Jezz. San Lorenzo Princess won the first trial and San Lorenzo Jezz took the second.

The win by San Lorenzo Luna was her third from nine trips to the starting gate. It was her first win in trial competition. She earned $6,000 for the effort and now owns a bankroll of $49,360. Each trial on Wednesday carried a purse of $10,000.

Bred in Louisiana by her owner, San Lorenzo Luna is by Coronas Leaving You out of the Heza Fast Dash mare Dashnunder Afullmoon who was a five-time stakes winner of more than $700,000.

Following are the 10 qualifiers: San Lorenzo Luna (:19.838), San Lorenzo Jezz (:19.927), San Lorenzo Princess (:20.042), Rf Imperial Choice (:20.134), One Sweet Tsunami (:20.206), Rf Fast Dash N Train (:20.264), Golden Answerr (:20.372), Ace Fortunes N Eagle (:20.445), Rf Gold Heart Duck (:20.466) and Jess B Sizzlin (:20.486).

Delta Downs hosted the inaugural running of the HDJ Butler Stakes (R) for Louisiana-breds on Saturday night and fans were treated to a dramatic finish as Rogelio Marquez Jr.’s Into The Grey just nosed out PK Pure Rogue to get the win in the $50,000 event.

Under jockey Luis Vivanco, Into The Grey broke sharply but found himself slightly behind early leader PK Pure Rogue in the initial strides of the 400-yard race. With 100 yards to go, Into The Grey dug in gamely and edged in front of his rival before hitting the finish line first by a nose and stopping the clock in a time of :19.797. The time equaled a speed index of 97. GBH Fiscal Toni was no threat to the top pair and finished 1 3/4 lengths behind the runner-up.

Into The Grey, who is trained by Jeremy Derozin, has now won six of 28 career starts. He earned $30,000 for this win on Saturday and now owns a bankroll of $209,790.

Bred by Phatt Kat Ranch, Into The Grey is a 6-year-old gray gelding by Sir Runaway Dash out of the Chicks A Blazin mare Sass That Chick.

Sent to the starting gate at odds of 5-1, Into The gray returned $12 to win, $5.20 to place and $3.20 to show. PK Pure Rogue was worth $3.60 to place and $2.20 to show. GBH Fiscal Toni paid $2.20 to show.

Energy Downs 307 Racing
Walter Larson’s Cayenneoverthemoon scored a narrow victory over Kawlidga in Friday’s $27,500 Wyoming Bred Classic Stakes (R). With Kody Kellenberger up for trainer Tryston Matt, the 6-year-old mare by Brindis Por Cayenne won by a head as the 7-10 favorite with a 400-yard clocking of :19.836. She earned a 104 speed index with a 25 mph tailwind recorded.

Now a winner of 16 of 35 career starts, Cayenneoverthemoon improved her bankroll to $163,815. Bred by S Bar S, the mare has spent most of her racing career in her home state, and this marked her fifth stakes victory. She is out of the Apollo (TB) mare Dashmetothemoon, who won the 2011 Prairie Meadows Distaff Challenge. 

Kawlidga, a gelding by Mighty B Valiant, put in a game effort to take second and earn his first stakes placing. Wave To Foose was three-quarters of a length back in third. 

Los Alamitos
Owned by Cheryl Stokes, Armando Arreola and Tungsten Racing Partnership, Train B Taka scored his third stakes win of the meet, this time in comfortable fashion in the running of the $25,000 Vandy’s Flash Stakes on Saturday at Los Alamitos.

Train B Taka’s previous stakes win was a nose victory over Sandra Ambus’ sizzling fast Paint Horse Kid Cocinero in the running of the Dillingham Stakes. In the Vandy’s Flash, Train B Taka was on top right from the start and never looked back to post a ¾-length win at 4-5 odds. Owned by the partnership of Bradley Hart, Santos Montemayor, Omar Torres and Mark and Marta Winslow, Steel Blue Cartel finished second, while Kid Cocinero settled for third after racing second most of the way.

On this night, Train B Taka steamrolled to victory under jockey Edwin Escobedo for trainer Marc Jungers. In picking up his seventh win in 12 career starts, the sophomore gelding by Freighttrain B covered the 350 yards in :17.571 while earning $13,750. That took his career bankroll to $184,317. He also won the Holiday Handicap here on the meet’s opening night.

“Tonight, he left there running nice,” Escobedo said. “He just drew away from them. He was real strong at the end. He didn’t give them a chance tonight. The biggest thing about him is that he has a real big heart and is honest. Every race he gives you what he’s got. He will never leave (the track) without giving you his all.”

Ridden by Cruz Mendez for trainer Jose Flores, the Favorite Cartel gelding Steel Blue Cartel earned $5,625 for his runner-up effort. He came into this race after running second in the Adequan Los Alamitos Derby Challenge on May 18. With Cesar Franco up for trainer Angela Aquino, Kid Cocinero picked up a $3,125 check for running third. The Paint Horse by CM Livewire has now posted three strong efforts since arriving at Los Alamitos.

The top three were followed by Coo Joe, See It Clearly, Favorite Semental and Holmybeeranwatchthis.

Prairie Meadows
LS Racing Inc.’s Ima Bigg Flash won the last of seven trials on Monday at the Iowa track to set the fastest qualifying time for the $208,650 Prairie Meadows Gold Futurity. Ridden by Ali Rivera for trainer John Stinebaugh, the Oklahoma-bred gelding by Big Daddy Cartel dashed 350 yards in :18.179.

Ima Bigg Flash has already earned more than $100,000 in his young career, as he won a trial and then finished third in the $868,455 Remington Park Futurity (RG1) in Oklahoma City. A $47,000 graduate of the Heritage Place Yearling Sale, Ima Bigg Flash was bred by the Flashing My Pjs Partnership, which is named for his dam. That mare, a daughter of First Moonflash, ran seventh in the 2020 All American Futurity (G1) behind Whistle Stop Cafe.

The other qualifiers for the July 6 final are: Fast Draw (:18.196), Blaze Of Gold (:18.203), Proved Jess Patriot (:18.214), Margarets Cowboy (:18.222), Relentless Country (:18.253), Tux Hard Shop (:18.276), Tres A Blood (:18.298), Relentless Effort (:18.309) and Dassault (:18.314).

Ruidoso Downs
Fine Am Eye defended her crown as the winner of the $50,000 Vista Distaff Stakes (R) for the second year in a row at Ruidoso Downs on Saturday. Owned by Backdoor Thoroughbreds LLC and trained by James Gonzales III, the 5-year-old mare took the New Mexico-bred stakes by a head with a 350-yard clocking of :17.854. Noe Garcia Jr. was the winning rider.

A veteran of 24 career starts, Fine Am Eye now has nine wins with earnings of $255,821. In addition to repeat victories in the Vista Distaff, the mare won last year’s Champagne Lane Stakes (R) at The Downs at Albuquerque for a total of three stakes victories. Bred by MJ Farms, Fine Am Eye is by Eye Am King out of the stakes-winning Tres Seis mare Starsmith. That mare, an Oklahoma-bred, spent most of her racing career at the Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City, where she won the 2009 Mexico Distaff Challenge and then shipped to Los Alamitos to run in the AQHA Distaff Challenge Championship (G1). 

Christian A. Dominguez-Olivas’ Maka Roon, another mare by Eye Am King who won last year’s New Mexico Classic Distaff (R) at Zia Park, took second. Miss Baby Cartel, a filly by Big Daddy Cartel running for Sergio Holguin and Felix Rodriguez, finished third. 

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