Trial winner Stetsonn meets stiff field for Ruidoso Derby

Life has changed quite a bit in the 14 years since G.R. Carter Jr. rode Llano Teller to a win in the Ruidoso Derby.

At the time, Carter was in the midst of one of the best years of his career, which included 3,550 Quarter Horse wins from 1989 to 2018. These days, Carter is a Quarter Horse owner and breeder, and has a 75-acre farm in Oklahoma where he grows hay and has a herd of cattle.

On Wednesday, Carter attended a tractor auction in Tulsa. On Saturday, he will be at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico to watch Stetsonn run in the $850,000 Ruidoso Derby.

Carter, 57, and his wife Shaena bred and own Stetsonn, who has won 4 of 6 starts, including a time trial for the Ruidoso Derby on May 25. G.R. Carter admits that life as an owner is an adjustment from his days of race riding.

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“It’s truly a different deal,” he said with a laugh. “Raising those babies and seeing them do good, we’ve watched them from the day they were born. We’re pretty proud.”

The Ruidoso Derby, run at 400 yards, is the first major race for 3-year-olds of the track’s spring-summer meeting. Ruidoso resumed racing on May 23 for the first time since late July when a series of floods caused by runoffs from fires last June devastated the racing surface. The final weeks of the 2024 meeting was run at The Downs at Albuquerque.

Stetsonn is one of 10 entrants in the Ruidoso Derby, a race that New Mexico racing officials say will have no more than seven starters. Hardtokatch collapsed after winning a division of the trials and died. A necropsy was pending as of Wednesday, New Mexico officials said. Electrifying Cowboy, a two-time stakes winner last year, and Lethal Cowboy 123, who won the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity last December, will not start after bleeding in the trials, officials said.

They have been entered so their owners can collect the eighth through 10th place portions of the purse.

Trainer Marc Jungers said on Wednesday that Lethal Cowboy 123 will be pointed to the time trials for the Rainbow Derby on June 29. The final will be run on July 12.

The absences of Electrifying Cowboy and Lethal Cowboy 123 enhance the chances of Stetsonn, who is trained by Dean Frey. Trial race winners Cartel Perry, Fdd Dreams, and Kj Born to Be Wild have outstanding chances to win the richest race for 3-year-old Quarter Horse so far this year.

Fdd Dreams won the $911,868 Texas Classic Futurity at Lone Star Park last November after a successful season in New Mexico that included a second in the $1 million Rainbow Futurity at Ruidoso Downs and a third in the $3 million All American Futurity in Albuquerque.

Fdd Dreams is likely to be favored in the Ruidoso Derby, although Stetsonn will rightfully have support.

Carter was encouraged that Stetsonn handled his first start at Ruidoso Downs on May 25 without difficulty.

“I thought he ran a great race,” Carter said. “He showed an affinity for Ruidoso. That makes me pretty excited about his chances. You see so many horses go to Ruidoso and some don’t see the same race they run at other places.”

Stetsonn will be ridden by Bryan Candanosa, who has been aboard the gelding for all four of his starts this year, including a fourth-place finish by a length in the $185,420 Remington Park Oklahoma-Bred Derby at 400 yards on a sealed and sloppy track on April 19.

“He’s a good kid and a good jockey,” Carter said of Candanosa. “He’s living the lifestyle that I used to.”

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