Sunday, October 10, 2010
Jacky Martin rode fastest qualifier and 1-2 favorite Prospect To The Top to a dominating 1 ½-length victory in the Grade 2, 400-yard Hobbs America Futurity before 2,315 fans at Zia Park on Sunday.
Trained by Ralph Muniz for owner Joel Tavarez of Odessa, Texas, Prospect To The Top stopped the timer in :19.258 against a reported 5-mph head wind, earning a 98 speed index and posting the second-fastest winning time in the stakes’ six-year history. The clocking missed by just 8/100ths of a second the stakes record of :19.17 set last year by champion First Klas Fred.
“If they’d run the All American Futurity today, he would have won,” said Martin, who also rode the bay Coronas Prospect colt to a two-length victory as the 3-5 choice in his trial on September 25. “He’s just tremendous. I just let him run for about 100 or 150 yards and started pulling him up. I don’t think there is a 2-year-old who can beat him right now.
“He was great in his trial, but he was better today,” added the rider.
Prospect To The Top was bred in Texas by Sue H. May, and the colt became the third stakes winner from 58 starters sired by Coronas Prospect, a 10-year-old stallion by Corona Cartel who won the 2002 Kindergarten Futurity (G3) at Delta Downs and the ’03 AQHA East Derby Challenge (G3) at the southwestern Louisiana track. A half brother to stakes winners Ready To Rumble and A Triple Circle, Coronas Prospect has sired the earners of more than $875,000 from four crops. He stood the 2010 season for a $2,000 fee at Maui Farms at Purcell, Oklahoma.
Prospect To The Top’s dam, Cream To The Top, is a winning 20-year-old mare by Easily Smashed who ran second in the 1993 Southwest Derby (G3) and Go Together Handicap (G3) at The Downs at Albuquerque and was a finalist in that season’s Grade 1 All American and Kansas derbies at Ruidoso Downs.
Cream To The Top has produced four winners from six starters, and she is a full sister to stakes winners Saloon and Shanghai Girl. Her dam, Hey Sailor, was a stakes-winning daughter of champion and 1965 All American Futurity winner Savannah Jr.
Prospect To The Top’s third dam, the late Top Deck (TB) mare Lower Deck, equaled the 220-yard track record at Bandera Downs in Texas in 1966, and she foaled stakes winner Watergait, a half brother to Hey Sailor.
The winner’s share of the stakes-record $313,499 Hobbs America Futurity purse increased Prospect To The Top’s bankroll to $211,280. The colt has won four of his five starts, and he was placed ninth in the September 6, $1.9-million All American Futurity (G1) at Ruidoso Downs.
“We’ll point him to the (Grade 1) Southwest Juvenile Championship, and our long-term goal is next year’s (Grade 1) All American Derby,” said Muniz.
Favored, a 30-1 longshot, ran second, a nose in front of third-place Rockin. Zoomandkicken, Rock N Zoom, RF Sonic Boom, Primera Corona, Blood Red Cadillac and Bigtime Country completed the order of finish. Fourth-fastest qualifier Separate Money was scratched.
Favored is a brown filly by Grade 1 winner Teller Cartel racing for La Feliz Montana Ranch LLC. Favored was coming off of a three-quarter length victory in her Hobbs America Futurity trial, in which she recorded the seventh-fastest qualifying time. The filly earned $50,160 to push her bankroll to $59,820 from two wins in six starts.
A bay gelding by the late Feature Mr Jess owned by Jaime Dominguez and SM Cattle Export Co. of Socorro, Texas, Rockin entered the Hobbs America Futurity off of a three-race win streak that included the August 22, $143,215 Mile High Futurity (G3) at Arapahoe Park near Denver. The gelding has earned $112,596 from three victories in nine races, and he ran second, a neck behind winner WR Carver, in the June 19 Four Corners Futurity (G3) at SunRay Park.