Rylees Boy broke sharply from post 3 and led at every call en route to a head victory in the 440-yard, $112,410 Bank of America New Mexico Challenge (G1) at Sunland Park on Sunday.

Racing for Gerardo Ochoa and trained by Gerardo Ochoa-Pena, Rylees Boy went 440 yards in :20.786 under jockey Joe Ruiz. The victory boosted Rylees Boy’s earnings to $269,443, and it earned the 5-year-old gelding by Heza Motor Scooter a berth in the November 14, $350,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1) at Fair Grounds Racecourse in New Orleans.

Rylees Boy was bred in Arizona by Gary D. Nesbitt, and the gelding is one of four stakes winners from 55 starters sired by Heza Motor Scooter, a 12-year-old stallion by champion Heza Fast Man who won three stakes at Los Alamitos in 2001, including the Grade 2, $148,200 El Primero del Ano Derby. Bred in Texas by Joyce D. Erickson of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Heza Motor Scooter has sired the earners of more than $885,000 from five crops. The stallion stands for a $1,500 fee at Ralph and Carrie Fales’ Farm in Coolidge, Arizona.

Rylees Boy’s dam, the winning Rocky Jones mare Pipistrelle, was a finalist in the 1995 Arizona QRA Futurity (RG3) at Turf Paradise. Now 17, Pipistrelle has foaled three winners from five starters.

Rylees Boy’s third dam, Senators Cyclone, was a daughter of the Flying Bob stallion Senator Bob who produced three stakes-placed runners, including Hotter N Hades, a colt by Top Decker who ran third in the 1980 Santa Cruz County Fair Futurity at Sonoita.

All told, Rylees Boy has won 13 of 26 races, including the January 30, $50,000 KFOX-FM Handicap at Sunland Park. The gelding ended his ’09 campaign with a second-place finish to eventual AQHA champion aged stallion First Moonflash in the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park (G1). A one-time $6,250 claimer, Rylees Boy also won last year’s 440-yard, $83,665 Bank of America West/Southwest Challenge (G3) at Turf Paradise in a track- and stakes-record :20.798. He also broke the 350-yard track record at Yavapai Downs at Prescott Valley, when he won an unofficial stakes final in :16.918.

Jess Dellaree, Heza Gambling Man, Jess Sporty, fastest qualifier Double Chiseled, Kool Cade, Yosi, Takin Win, Brown Eye Suze, Hez Our Rock completed the order of finish.

A 5-year-old sorrel gelding by Grade 1 winner Feature Mr Jess, Jess Dellaree earned $22,482 for his owner, Maria G. Gonzalez of Edgewood, New Mexico. Jess Dellaree ran second, a nose behind winner Hez Our Rock, in the March 6, $86,854 West Texas Maturity (G2) at Sunland.

Heza Gambling Man finished 1 ¼ lengths behind Rylees Boy and banked $11,241 for his owner, Jose A. Esparza of El Paso, Texas. The 4-year-old gelding by the stakes-placed First Down Dash stallion Title Contender, Heza Gambling Man won for a $5,000 claiming tag last season at Blue Ribbon Downs, and the Bank of America New Mexico Challenge represented the gelding’s first race against stakes competition.