American Runaway favored in All American future wager

American Runaway, who is the nation’s top ranked 2-year-old Quarter Horse, closed as the 7-2 favorite for the first All American Future Wager. The field was the second choice at 4-1. The Grade 1, $2 million All American Futurity will be run at Ruidoso Downs on Sept. 6.

The future wager closed at 10 p.m. Mountain time on Sunday. There were 24 betting interests, with 23 being individual horses and the other the field. Ruidoso reported there was $16,163 bet into the future wager. It offered win betting only, with a minimum wager of $2.

There was $2,775 bet on American Runaway, and $2,354 bet on the field. American Runaway, who is scheduled to race Sunday at Ruidoso Downs in the Grade 1, $625,000 Rainbow Futurity, currently leads the weekly 2-year-old poll put out by the American Quarter Horse Association. The future wager was offered at sites around the country.

“There was a great response, a lot of people talking about it,” said Ann McGovern, the president of Ruidoso. “The $16,000 was more than we expected for a first-time wager.”

McGovern said the future wager was “designed to be an awareness promotion.” It was a means of drawing attention to 2-year-old Quarter Horse racing well in advance of the sport’s most prestigious race, the All American.

“I’m grateful to the AQHA and [racing consultant] Jeff True,” McGovern said. “They were instrumental in making this happen.

“My initial thought is we’re off to a great start, and we’d like to build on this year after year.”

American Runaway was the fastest qualifier for the Rainbow during trials, which came one start after he won the Grade 1, $500,000 Ruidoso Futurity. He is trained by Paul Jones, who has won the All American Futurity three times, the latest in 2009 with Running Brook Gal.