Toastin Heros leads all the way in Quarter Horse Championship at Sunland Park

Toastin Heros, dismissed at 13-1, won the richest race of his career in Saturday’s $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park for Quarter Horses, beating a field that included 2025 World Champion Fdd Dreams, who ran third.

Toastin Heros ran 440 yards in 21.15 seconds, finishing a neck in front of 16-1 Rc Corona King. Fdd Dreams, winner of the $700,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in California in December, was a head behind Rc Corona King.

The 4-5 favorite, Fdd Dreams started from the inside post. He bumped with Karmalites to his outside at the start, but recovered quickly to reach contention. Fdd Dreams trailed Toastin Heros by a half-length midway through the race and closed some ground in the final 100 yards.

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KJ Desparado, winner of the $3 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in 2021, finished fifth, beaten a length. He earned $15,000 to increase his career earnings to $3,382,447, an all-time record for a Quarter Horse.

Toastin Heros was the fifth choice in the field and paid $28. Toastin Heroes, who started against older horses for the first time on Saturday, was ridden by Jacob Enriquez for trainer Clinton Crawford and owner and breeder Gene Cox. Toastin Heros started from post 7 and led throughout.

A 4-year-old gelding by Valiant Hero, Toastin Heroes has won 7 of 16 starts and earned $344,647. Saturday’s win was worth $157,000.

Toastin Heros won for the third time in his last four starts in the Championship at Sunland Park, the leading wintertime race for older horses.

Toastin Heroes won the $190,873 La Fiesta Derby in Albuquerque in October, and was fifth as the 4-5 favorite in the $100,000 Hobbs America Derby at Zia Park on Dec. 14 after stumbling badly at the start.

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