Apollitical Blood comes up big to win All American Derby

Apollitical Blood qualified for four major futurities at Los Alamitos and Ruidoso Downs last year, finishing fourth in the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs and second in the Golden State Million at Los Alamitos.

This year is different. In Sunday’s $2,378,383 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs, Apollitical Blood ran the best race of his career to win Quarter Horse racing’s richest derby. Ridden by Los Alamitos-based Eduardo Nicasio, Apollitical Blood ($13) won the 440-yard race by 1 3/4 lengths over the 7-1 Sam Crow. Fire Fortune, a 19-1 outsider, finished third in the field of 10.

Kiss My Hocks, the 2-1 favorite and champion 2-year-old colt of 2014, hesitated at the start and could not recover, finishing last of 10.

Apollitical Blood was timed in 21.22 seconds and earned $999,110 for Juan Alberto Tirado Lizarraga’s Rancho El Cabestro.

The win gave Apollitical Blood an automatic berth to the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 12, a race that annually plays a pivotal role in voting for the year-end championship.

Apollitical Blood has won 5 of 12 starts and earned $1,504,630. At 2, he was fifth in the Ed Burke Million and sixth in the Los Alamitos Two Million futurities at Los Alamitos, in addition to his close loss in the Golden State Million.

This year, Apollitical Blood was fourth in a division of the Rainbow Derby trials July 5 at Ruidoso Downs in his first start of the year but rebounded to set the fastest qualifying time of 21.35 with a comprehensive win in the division of the All American Derby trials Aug. 23.