Jacky Martin rode second-fastest qualifier Hes Too Icy For Me to a victory in the $625,000 Rainbow Futurity (G1) at Ruidoso Downs on Sunday.

Saddled by Carlos “Charlie” Sedillo for owners Robert and Dolores Gerhardt, Hes Too Icy For Me covered 400 yards on a sloppy and sealed track in :19.409, recording a 99 speed index and his first career stakes win. The winner’s share of the Rainbow purse pushed his earnings to $332,694.

Hes Too Icy For Me’s win also marked the first stakes victory for Martin since the jockey’s return to riding earlier this month. The 55-year-old rider has won the Rainbow Futurity, which began in 1964, five times, more than any other jockey.

“This might be better than any win I’ve had,” said Martin after the race. “I didn’t think I’d win a major futurity this quickly. Charlie gave me this opportunity when I came back.”

Hes Too Icy For Me’s margin of victory was a nose from American Runaway. The fastest qualifier and even-money favorite, American Runaway was coming off of a three-race win streak that included the $500,000 Ruidoso Futurity (G1) on June 13.

This Corona Is Cold, a 16-1 longshot, ran third, a half of a length behind the winner.

“(This Corona Is Cold) had me beat by about a half of a length, and when I got by her I could see American Runaway,” Martin added. “He was coming at me at the end.”

Hes Too Icy For Me was bred in California by Vessels Stallion Farm LLC and DM Cattle Co., and the gray colt became the 221^st stakes winner from 21 crops sired by First Down Dash, the sport’s all-time leading sire and 1987 world champion. Now 26, the son of two-time world champion Dash For Cash has sired 1,585 starters and the earners of more than $72.1 million. He stands at Vessels Stallion Farm at Bonsall, California.

Hes Too Icy For Me is also one of three winners from as many starters foaled by Slighty Icy, a winning and stakes-placed daughter of Chicks Beduino. The 8-year-old mare was also a finalist in the 2005 Los Alamitos Winter (G1) and La Primera del Ano (G2) derbies.

Hes Too Icy For Me’s second dam, Icy Morn (TB), is an 18-year-old daughter of the J.O. Tobin (TB) mare Crowned Jewel (TB) who won 11 stakes at six different tracks from 1994-97. Icy Morn has produced eight winners from 10 starters, including Icy Lane (TB), a filly by Devon Lane (TB) who won the $131,250 La Senora Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred fillies at Sunland Park in 2004.  

A $36,000 buy at last year’s Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, Hes Too Icy For Me has won three of four races; the only blemish on his otherwise perfect record is a sixth-place finish in the April 18, $302,339 West Texas Futurity (G1) at Sunland Park.

Classy Nicole ran fourth and was followed by Rock N Zoom, Quik Corona, second-fastest qualifier and 2-1 second choice Llano Teller, Bodacious Dash, Miss Barbara Allen, and Dreams Fly Bye.

A gray colt by Ocean Runaway racing for Sammy Martinez, Johnny Martinez, and Bobby D. Cox, American Runaway earned $100,000 to boost her bankroll to $458,373. American Runaway has won three of seven races, including the Ruidoso Futurity, and he ran second at odds of 48-1 in the April 17, $596,041 Remington Park Futurity (G1) in Oklahoma.

This Corona Is Cold was coming off of a nose victory in the last of 18 Rainbow Futurity trials on July 8. A winner of one of her three outs, the filly by Corona Cartel has earned $52,588 for her owner, Alejandro Moya of Houston, Texas.