Dashing Tres turns in best effort to upset Rainbow Derby

Dashing Tres was third as the 8-5 favorite in the Ruidoso Derby at Ruidoso Downs on June 8 in his 2024 stakes debut. It turns out bettors were seven weeks early in anticipating Dashing Tres’s best effort so far this year.

In Saturday’s $793,603 Rainbow Derby at the Downs at Albuquerque, Dashing Tres ($22.80) overcame a slightly tangled start to score an upset by a neck in the 440-yard race.

Visa (7-1) finished second, edging 3-5 favorite Dark Nme, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2023. Dark Nme broke slightly to her inside at the start and did not show the same turn of foot that led to three major futurity wins in 2023.

Dashing Tres, a gelding owned and bred by Bob McClure, and Visa are trained by Toby Keeton, who leads the nation’s Quarter Horse trainers in earnings.

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Dashing Tres, ridden by Juan Pulido, was timed in 21.18 seconds and earned $333,313. Dashing Tres has won 5 of 8 starts and earned $597,064 in his career. The losses include a fifth-place finish by 1 1/2 lengths in the $3 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs last September.

The Rainbow Derby is the richest race of the weekend at the Downs at Albuquerque, which took over racing days from Ruidoso Downs after officials with that southern New Mexico track abandoned the remainder of the summer meeting on July 21 after a series of flash floods struck the racetrack.

Two major forest fires in the Ruidoso area consumed more than 25,000 acres in June, leading to floods of water, mud, and debris from affected mountainsides that caused widespread damage to the small town and racetrack.

Ruidoso Downs was scheduled to race through Sept. 2. Instead, the meeting was moved to Albuquerque.

The Rainbow Derby was originally scheduled for July 13 then postponed to July 20 when it was postponed a second time because of a massive flood that afternoon.

In Saturday’s $167,171 Zia Derby for statebred 3-year-olds, the gelding Solid won his stakes debut under jockey Adrian Ramos.

Sent off favored, Solid ($5.60) broke well, though slightly to the outside, and was quickly in front in the field of eight. Solid kept his advantage and held off a sustained threat from 3-1 Chicka Boom Babe to win by a half-length.

The first two finishers are trained by Wes Giles. Solid was timed in 19.54 seconds.

Daddysqueenofalice (10-1) finished third, beaten two lengths. Chicka Boom Babe and Daddysqueenofalice were the only two fillies in a field of eight.

Solid, owned by Pierre and Leslie Amestoy, has won 3 of 4 starts, including his 3-year-old debut in a division of the Zia Derby trials at Ruidoso Downs on July 6.

In Saturday’s final race, Flash Bak, one of the nation’s leading older horses, won his first start since January in the $40,000 Mr Jet Moore Stakes at 400 yards.

Flash Bak, ridden by Francisco Calderon, finished a half-length in front of 18-1 Out of the Way in the field of eight. Flash Bak ($3) was timed in 19.19 seconds.

Trained by Heath Taylor, Flash Bak won the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos last December and his 2024 debut in the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park in January.

Taylor said recently that Flash Bak is a candidate for the All American Gold Cup at 440 yards on Sept. 2.

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