Asscher tests new track in Rainbow Oaks

In the last week, the 3-year-old Quarter Horse filly Asscher has gone from being housed at Ruidoso Downs, to briefly being based at a training center in nearby Tularosa, N.M., and finally driven approximately 150 miles north to the Downs at Albuquerque in advance of Sunday’s $483,394 Rainbow Oaks.

A series of devastating floods at Ruidoso Downs, caused by runoff from a massive wildfire that struck the area in mid-June, led to the relocation of the last six weeks of the Ruidoso meeting to Albuquerque.

The Albuquerque surface will be new to Asscher when she starts favored on Sunday.

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“It’s tough,” trainer Marc Jungers said. “It will be her first time on the track. Hopefully, she’ll run well.”

Jungers said he was fortunate to exercise Asscher this week at the training center in Tularosa.

“That’s the hard part, keeping them at the level we needed,” he said. “I think she’ll be all right.”

The fires took a personal toll on Jungers. He lost a home in the Ruidoso area.

“It was pretty well to the ground,” he said of the devastation. “We’ve committed to rebuild.”

The Rainbow Oaks, one of the nation’s leading races for 3-year-old Quarter Horse fillies, is the richest race on Sunday’s 12-race program, which includes the $368,451 Zia Futurity for statebred Quarter Horse 2-year-olds at 400 yards.

The Rainbow Oaks has been postponed twice. Time trials were scheduled for June 30 and then postponed to July 1 because of flooding that affected parts of the Ruidoso Downs racing surface.

The trials were run on July 7. The final was rescheduled from July 13 to July 21 and then postponed to Sunday when a massive flood hit Ruidoso Downs on July 20. On July 21, Ruidoso Downs officials announced the meeting was moving to Albuquerque.

Asscher has already won the richest race of the year for 3-year-old Quarter Horse fillies in the $404,000 Los Alamitos Oaks in March.

Asscher, owned by Lance Bland and Jimmy Barton, was the fastest qualifier from five trials for the Rainbow Oaks, winning the 440-yard race by two lengths in 21.50 seconds.

Asscher drew the outside post and has two main rivals in trial race winners Firstchickonthemoon and Running to the Moon.

Firstchickonthemoon will have her stakes debut in the Rainbow Oaks after winning a division of the trials in 21.52 seconds. Running to the Moon won a trial by 1 1/2 lengths in 21.51 seconds. Running to the Moon was second by a neck in the $298,940 Heritage Place Oaks at 400 yards at Remington Park on June 1.

Harken, winner of the $351,484 Mountain Top Futurity for statebreds at 350 yards at Ruidoso Downs in June, is rated as a leading contender for the Zia Futurity after a trial race win on July 5.

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