Los Alamitos: Abraham making impact in Quarter Horse ranks

Whether he is dealing with professional or sporting endeavors, Mike Abraham is not afraid of a risk.

In the past, he was involved in real estate and oil and gas exploration. More recently, he has focused on racing and breeding Quarter Horses at his farm in Bosque, N.M., and the lucrative, but unpredictable, aspect of competing in major futurities and derbys in California and New Mexico.

“I never really thought of that,” he said of his willingness to take a chance.

This year, Abraham, 62, who lives in Las Vegas, is focusing more on racing and could be on the verge of a breakthrough season. Already, he has won the $239,500 El Primero Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos with Pk Fire. Last Friday, Abraham’s 2-year-old filly This Boogie Fires won her debut in a 300-yard maiden race at Los Alamitos in the sharp time of 15.49 seconds.

Abraham and trainer Jaime Gomez think so highly of This Boogie Fires that they are skipping the first major futurity of the season – the $400,000 Kindergarten Futurity on May 22 – in favor of the more lucrative $1 million Ed Burke Million Futurity on June 25, which has time trials on June 11.

“We have a high bar for her,” Abraham said on Wednesday.”She’s paid into the Kindergarten but I think we’ll skip it. She’s got a lot of starts in front of her. At the end of the year, sometimes you wish you didn’t have a couple of races early.”

This Boogie Fires is by the California-based stallion Walk Thru Fire. Pk Fire is by Walk Thru Fire, as is La Fire, a 3-year-old colt who finished eighth in the Golden State Million last fall and is nearing a comeback. Walk Thru Fire was the sire of Ld Fire, a filly who won the 2009 Ed Burke Million Futurity for Abraham but was euthanized that fall after suffering a back injury in the Golden State Million.

“That was really rough,” he recalled. “She was really talented.”

While Abraham breeds to sell, he will have more action ontrack in 2011. “I’ll probably race more this year than normal,” he said.

Abraham’s stable at Ruidoso Downs this summer will include Pk Fire, La Fire and possibly This Boogie Fires, who is nominated to the All American Futurity.

◗ There is no racing at Los Alamitos on Sunday because of Easter.