Train Rider Blues was a prompt 2-1 favorite in Saturday’s 6 ½-furlong, $75,000 Dine Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred 3-year-olds at SunRay Park.

Racing for Freda McSwane and Joe Walters, Train Rider Blues rallied to defeat 3-1 second choice My Picasso by a nose. Closing off of the fractions of :22.68, and :45.18 set by Eightnchangegroom, the bay colt by Desert God covered 6 ½ furlongs in 1:16.71 while recording his fourth win in 14 starts. Joe Martinez rode Train Rider Blues for trainer Terry Walker.

McSwane and Walters acquired Train Rider Blues for $5,000 at the 2008 New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale at Ruidoso Downs. Bred by T.J. and Sharon Monsen of El Paso, Texas, the colt is one of 13 stakes winners from 110 starters sired by Desert God, an unraced son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Fappiano and half brother to stakes winners Better Than Honour, Smolensk, and Turnberry Isle.

Now 19, Desert God has sired 15 crops and the earners of more than $5.7 million, including Peppers Pride, an earner of $1,066,085 and the holder of the North American record of 19 consecutive wins by a Thoroughbred. He stands for a $6,000 fee at Fred and Linda Alexander’s A & A Ranch at Anthony, New Mexico.

Train Rider Blues is also one of two starters produced by Cara Marisa, a winning 12-year-old daughter of the Storm Cat stallion Hennessy. The colt’s third dam, the For The Moment mare Eileen’s Moment, produced 1992 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Lil E Tee and four stakes-placed runners.

Train Rider Blues traces back to his fourth dam, the Hawaii mare Sailaway. A 1976 Kentucky-bred foal, Sailaway foaled two stakes winners, including the late Thirty Zip, a filly by Tri Jet who won eight stakes in Florida from 1985-88.

The $45,000 winner’s share of the Dine Stakes increased Train Rider Blues’ bankroll to $259,663. The colt has won three stakes, including last year’s 5-furlong, $159,556 Ruidoso Horse Sale Futurity (R) and 5 ½-furlong, $109,026 Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R), both of which were run at Ruidoso Downs.

Train Rider Blues was coming off of a consecutive second-place finishes in the May 30 Norgor Derby at Ruidoso Downs and March 28 New Mexico Breeders’ Derby (R) at Sunland Park.

Pacesetter Eightnchangegroom finished third, 1 ¼ lengths behind Train Rider Blues. Smash Dancer, Rig’s Runner, Go Barney Go. Go Emmit Go, Riot Control, In Flags Honor, and Countrybumpkin Who completed the order of finish.

A homebred gelding by Devon Lane who broke his maiden for a $12,500 tag at Zia Park last fall, runner-up My Picasso earned $15,000 to push his earnings to $81,340 for owner Winnie Vick of Mesilla Park, New Mexico. My Picasso ran third in last year’s one-mile, $130,460 New Mexico Eddy County Stakes (R) for state-bred 2-year-olds at Zia Park.

Eightnchangegroom is a homebred bay gelding by Regal Groom owned and trained by Ronald W. Ekins of Lake Shore, Utah. An earner of $31,020 from two wins in three outs, Eightnchangegroom was coming off of two straight victories, including a 4 ¼-length allowance score as the 8-5 favorite on May 30.