Vanessa Bartoo’s Double Down Special, the fastest qualifier and 9-10 favorite, extended his win streak to four in Saturday’s Grade 1, $569,153 Ruidoso Derby (G1) at Ruidoso Downs.

Saddled by John Stinebaugh and ridden by Salvador Martinez, Double Down Special covered 400 yards in :19.642 while defeating 21-1 longshot Swingin Daddyo by a neck. The bay gelding by The Down Side returned a $3.80 win mutuel and teamed with the runner-up for $2 exacta and quinella payoffs of $60.80 and $43.20, respectively.

"When he breaks from the gate like he did, it's over," said Martinez, who has ridden Double Down Special in his last six races. "I looked to the inside, and he was gone."

Double Down Special was bred in Texas by Bob and Jerry Gaston, and the gelding is one of seven stakes winners from 129 starters sired by the late The Down Side, a Grade 1-winning son of First Down Dash and full brother to Revv It Up, the winner of the 2000 Kindergarten Futurity (G1) at Los Alamitos. The Down Side’s three crops have earned more than $2.4 million, and Double Down Special represents his richest-earning starter.

Double Down Special is also one of three winners from as many starters produced by the Special Effort mare Pamper Me Special. Now 10, Pamper Me Special is a half sister to two graded stakes placed runners – Outlaw Dasher, a First Down Dash gelding who ran second in the 1997 Kindergarten Futurity (G2), and Star Splinter, a gelding by One Slick One who ran second in the ’99 Ruidoso Futurity (G1).

Double Down Special’s second dam, the winning Beduino (TB) mare Antheria, was a finalist in the 1989 Governor’s Cup Derby (RG3) at Los Alamitos. The gelding’s third dam, Pampered Lady, was a 1973 foal by the Go Man Go stallion Duplicate Copy who ran second in the ’76 Golden State Derby at Bay Meadows and produced 1982 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity winner The Katchina Doll.

The $284,572 winner’s share of the Ruidoso Derby purse – the richest in the stakes’ 17-year history, increased Double Down Special’s earnings to $436,822. The gelding has won two stakes, including the April 3, $168,685 West Texas Derby (G3) at Sunland Park in a world-record time of :18.613 for 400 yards. He also ran second, a head behind winner Templar Knight, in last year’s Sunland Park Winter Futurity (G2), and he was a finalist in the Four Corners Futurity at SunRay Park in Farmington, New Mexico.

Stinebaugh said that Double Down Special could race next in the 440-yard Rainbow Derby (G1) trials on July 9, but the ultimate goal is the All American Derby (G1) on September 5.

Sir Seth, sent to post at odds of nearly 5-1, ran third to complete a ($2) trifecta return of $251.20. Smokey Stone, CD Frontier Justice, Kuhl Little Man, Jess So Sixy, Hott Feett, Runaway Stoli, and Stepenos completed the order of finish.

A sorrel gelding by Agouti, Swingin Daddyo banked $91,064 for his owner, Debra Gotovac of Midland, Texas. Swingin Daddyo ran third in last year’s 400-yard, $163,090 Hialeah Laddie Futurity at Hialeah Park in Florida, and he was a finalist in the Grade 1 All American, Ruidoso, and Dash For Cash futurities.

Sir Seth earned $45,531 to run his career bankroll to $95,106 for his owner, Rodney Christiansen of Ivins, Utah. A homebred colt by all-time leading sire First Down Dash, Sir Seth ran third, two lengths behind winner and eventual AQHA champion 2-year-old gelding First Klas Fred, in last season’s $500,000 Ruidoso Futurity (G1).