Big-margin trial winners clash in Ruidoso Futurity

Quarter Horses do not tend to do what Hezgothelook Z did in a division of the Ruidoso Futurity trials on May 24, winning a 350-yard race by 5 1/2 lengths.

There hardly seems to be sufficient time in such a brief race to pull that far away, even against inferior rivals. The overwhelming win will make Hezgothelook Z the favorite to win Sunday’s $1 million Ruidoso Futurity.

Hezgothelook Z, who will be ridden by Bryan Candanosa for Triple One Ranch, is part of a field of 10, including stablemate Poochies Candy, who won a division of the trials later on May 24 by an equally remarkable four lengths.

Both are trained by Toby Keeton, who also qualified the outsiders Tjr Flyingwithstyle and Aguila Rapida. Through Thursday, Keeton led the nation’s Quarter Horse trainers with 63 wins from 178 runners, a staggering 35.3 percent win average. It’s quite a change from recent years when Keeton won with 15 percent of his starters in 2021, 20 percent in 2022, and 19 percent last year.

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One of the 2022 wins was Otts Boy in the $1 million Ruidoso Futurity for owner and breeder Luke Goebel of Three Rivers, Texas. Poochies Candy, unbeaten in two starts, is a half-brother to Otts Boy and races for Goebel.

Aside from his gaudy winning margin, Hezgothelook Z will be favored on the basis of a qualifying time of 17.42 seconds, the fastest of the day on May 24.

The result was a turnaround from a troubled fifth-place finish in his debut in a division of the Sam Houston Juvenile on April 19.

There were 16 trials on May 24 and 25. The five fastest runners from each day earned berths in Sunday’s final. All 10 qualifiers won trial races.

Hovland, a gelding trained by Xavier Rodrigez, was the fastest qualifier from the May 25 trials, winning by 3 1/4 lengths in 17.77 seconds while running into a 20-mile per hour headwind. All 10 qualifiers faced a headwind to some degree.

The most accomplished runner in the Sunday’s field is the unbeaten gelding Painted Eclispe, who won the $311,951 West Texas Futurity at 300 yards at Sunland Park on April 6.

Painted Eclispe, trained by Rodriguez, won for the third time in the Ruidoso Futurity trials by 1 3/4 lengths in 17.72 seconds on May 24. He won from the outside post of 10 and has the same post position on Sunday.

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