Ruidoso Downs Racetrack will be the center of Quarter Horse racing this weekend, as the track hosts a pair of significant Grade 1 stakes.

Saturday’s 440-yard Rainbow Derby (G1) will be worth a stakes-record purse of $873,441, which breaks the previous mark of $567,167 set 28 years ago. The Rainbow Derby will be followed by the 400-yard, $625,000 Rainbow Futurity (G1) on Sunday, which features the continuing quest of American Runaway toward this year’s All American Triple Crown.

Fastest qualifier Love Samba drew post 9 and will be ridden by Ricky Ramirez in the Rainbow Derby. A sorrel daughter of Corona Cartel racing for Jim D. Pitts and trained by Blane Wood, Love Samba won the second of five Rainbow trials on July 9, and the filly was a finalist in last year’s Rainbow and All American (G1) futurities.

Other prominent sophomores in the Rainbow Derby include Debra Gotovac’s Swingin Daddyo, a gelding by Agouti who ran a close second to Double Down Special in the June 12 Ruidoso Derby (G1); Ed Melzer’s Streakin Down, a bay Streakin Sixes gelding whose three-race win streak includes the May 29, $291,000 Heritage Place Derby (G1) at Remington Park; and Denis and Julie Schoenhofer’s First Klas Fred, a gelding by the late Fredricksburg and last year’s champion 2-year-old gelding.

All horses will carry 122 pounds. The complete lineup for the Rainbow Derby, in post position order including jockey assignments and morning-line odds – Swingin Daddyo (Cody Wainscott), 8-1; Streakin Down (Jimmy Dean Brooks), 8-1; First Klas Fred (G.R. Carter Jr.), 10-1; Smokey Stone (Cody Jensen), 10-1; Jess So Sixy (Freddie Martinez), 12-1; Sir Seth (Larry Payne), 5-1; Hoponthewagon (Tony Guymon), 20-1; Favorite Cartel (Ramon Sanchez), 6-1; Love Samba (Ricky Ramirez), 3-1; Plain Azoom (Jacky Martin), 4-1.

The fastest qualifier, American Runaway is one of four Rainbow Futurity finalists trained by reigning AQHA champion conditioner Paul Jones. The Ocean Runaway colt, who races for Sammy Martinez, Johnny Martinez, and Bobby D. Cox, has won three consecutive races – including the June 13, $500,000 Ruidoso Futurity (G1) – and he ran a close second to Rainbow rival Llano Teller on a sloppy track in the April 17 Remington Park Futurity (G1) in Oklahoma.

All told, American Runaway has won three of six races and has earned $358,373. As the winner of the Ruidoso Futurity, the colt is the only 2-year-old still in line for the All American Triple Crown, which pays a cash bonus to the connections of a horse who can win Ruidoso Downs’ three open Grade 1 futurities. World champion Special Effort accomplished the feat in 1981 and is the last horse to have done so.

All horses will tote 120 in the Rainbow Futurity. The complete lineup, in post position order including jockey assignments – Classy Nicole (Freddie Martinez), Rock N Zoom (Jimmy Dean Brooks), Llano Teller (G.R. Carter Jr.), American Runaway (Cody Jensen), Dreams Fly Bye (Ramon Sanchez), Quik Corona (Tony Guymon), This Corona Is Cold (Larry Payne), Hes Too Icy For Me (Jacky Martin), Miss Barbara Allen (Chris Zamora), and Bodacious Dash (Ricky Ramirez).