There is a glaring absence from the entries for the 32 time trials for the Rainbow Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Friday and Saturday. Lets Leave, the winner of the $1 million Ruidoso Futurity on June 11, has been held out of the second division of the track’s Triple Crown for 2-year-olds in favor of a start in the All American Futurity trials in August, trainer Eric Valenzuela said last weekend. Lets Leave has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $483,681 in a career that began in March at Sunland Park. “We saw what he can do,” Valenzuela said. “He has great potential. We have to give him a break.  “I believe we’ll baby him a little bit. With the races so close together, it’s a choice to take care of him.” Special Effort, in 1981, is the only horse in history to sweep the three futurities at Ruidoso Downs. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play with FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic.  Valenzuela, who turned 40 on the day Lets Leave won the Ruidoso Futurity, has 23 starters in the 400-yard Rainbow Futurity trials – 11 on Friday and 12 on Saturday. Trainer Trey Wood will be the busiest through the futurity trials, with 17 runners each day. None of Valenzuela’s starters are as prominent as Wired 440, who was second by a nose to Lets Leave in the Ruidoso Futurity. Wired 440 will start in the fourth race on Friday, a tough division that also drew Dark NME, the winner $804,150 of the $804,150 Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Futurity on April 22; Maxximumm, who sold for $515,000 last September, the most expensive hip at the 2022 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale. Maxximumm was a troubled seventh in his career debut in a division of the Ruidoso Futurity trials on May 27. The runners with the five fastest qualifying times from Friday and Saturday’s trials advance to the $1 million final on July 16. Factors such as wind direction, potential shifts in the weather through the afternoon, and good fortune away from the starting gate will play important roles in determining the finalists. Later on Friday, Especially Goodcandy, second to Dark NME in the Remington Park Futurity, starts in the eighth trial. Yippee Ki Yey, the undefeated winner of the Ruidoso Juvenile on June 11, the consolation of the Ruidoso Futurity, starts in the 13th trial. The most prominent runner on Saturday is the unlucky Kj Little Duce Coup, who beat Lets Leave in the $282,926 West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park on April 1. Kj Little Duce Coup reared and unseated jockey Adrian Ramos at the start of the Ruidoso Futurity, losing for the first time in his fourth start. Kj Little Duce Coup starts in Saturday’s fifth trial.  Two races later, Midnight Politics, third in the $1.2 million Heritage Place Futurity at Remington Park on June 3, will start as the favorite from the outside post in a field of 10. The three champion juveniles of 2022 will start in trials for the Rainbow Oaks or Rainbow Derby on Sunday. Both races are run at 440 yards. Jes An Angel, the champion 2-year-old filly last year, runs in the fourth of six divisions of trials for the Rainbow Oaks. The runners with the 10 fastest qualifying time advance to the final on July 15, which will have a record purse of $476,531, the highest ever for a Quarter Horse race for fillies. Jes An Angel won an allowance race at Ruidoso Downs on June 16 in her second start of the year. Cartel Kisses, winner of the $461,500 Los Alamitos Oaks in California in March, runs in the sixth and final trial for the Rainbow Oaks.  The final nine races on Sunday are trials for the $801,730 Rainbow Derby. Hes JudgeandJury, the champion 2-year-old gelding and overall champion 2-year-old of 2022, will have his 2023 debut in Sunday’s 12thrace. Hes Judgeandjury won the $3 million All American Futurity last September. Cyber Attack, the champion 2-year-old of colt of 2022, will be a strong favorite to win the last race on the strength of a win in the Ruidoso Derby on June 11. Cyber Attack will be tested by Chasing Aj, who was third in the All American Futurity and a good second in the Ruidoso Invitational on June 10, the consolation of the Ruidoso Derby. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.