Jumpn Beduino lot less nervous

There was a time last year when an outside draw for Jumpn Beduino would have frightened trainer Patricia Visscher.

Jumpn Beduino started in post 9 in the Governor's Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos last July, but veered out sharply and unseated jockey Francisco Rubio. Their partnership is faring much better this year.

On March 20, Jumpn Beduino won a division of the La Primera Del Ano Derby trials under Rubio, running 400 yards in 19.72 seconds and setting the fastest qualifying time for Saturday's $175,500 final for 3-year-old Quarter Horse fillies.

Jumpn Beduino is likely to be favored in the Grade 2 race and once again starts from post 9. Owned by Ed and Theresa DeNike, Jumpn Beduino is seeking her second major stakes win, having won the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity last October.

"If I had drawn the nine last year, I'd be a little sick," Visscher said. "She's gotten more mature. I'm hoping it's a good thing."

Jumpn Beduino is a winner of 4 of 7 starts and $194,115. The trial race is her only start this year. She finished second in a division of the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity trials last November, failed to qualify for that lucrative final, and was given a winter break.

"I turned her out for a while after the Two Million trials when she didn't make it," Visscher said. "I thought there was no reason to push her. The man who owns her wants to go for the better races.

"She didn't get a whole lot taller but she's more mature. Before, she was kind of skittish about everything. She seems to be training a lot better. Instead of being nervous and not sure about getting on the racetrack and getting scared at the gates, she's quiet. I'm really happy coming up to this. I really think the trial will set her up well."

Jumpn Beduino is the only stakes winner in the 10-horse La Primera field.

Fovee, who won the other trial on March 20, was third at 20-1 in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 11 despite drifting to the outside through the stretch. The La Primera trial was Fovee's first start of 2010.

Trained by Juan Aleman, Fovee is by the Thoroughbred sire Cuvee and starts from post 10.