World Champion Whistle Stop Cafe remains undefeated in Rainbow Oaks
Whistle Stop Cafe, the 2020 Quarter Horse World Champion, remained unbeaten after eight starts with a sharp win in Saturday’s $374,363 Rainbow Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Ruidoso Downs.
The filly was vanned off after the race at the request of track stewards, according to trainer Trey Wood.
“The stewards thought she was tired,” Wood said in a phone interview an hour after the race.
Wood said Whistle Stop Cafe was “100 percent fine” at his barn later on Saturday afternoon. The filly bled after a race last summer, but Wood said that did not occur on Saturday.
Ridden by Tanner Thedford, Whistle Stop Cafe ($3.80) broke sharply from the inside post and held off a threat from 4-1 Valiant Stars in the final 100 yards to win the 440-yard race by a half-length.
Valiant Stars, second in the Ruidoso Derby against males on June 12, finished 1 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Miss Famous Eagle, a 26-1 chance.
The remaining order of finish was Paint Me Tres, Elphaba, Packsaddle Senator, Caliente Caramelo, HR Princess Jess, Ynot the Favorite, and Best Moonflash.
Whistle Stop Cafe was timed in 21.37 seconds, and won her third major stakes in the Rainbow Oaks. Last year, Whistle Stop Cafe won the Rainbow and All American futurities to secure her World Champion title as well as championships as the nation’s top 2-year-old filly and overall 2-year-old.
Whistle Stop Cafe races for Lainie and Raymond Whitmire of Sallisaw, Okla. By Freighttrain B, WhistleStop Cafe has earned $2,137,019. The win in the Rainbow Oaks was worth $157,233.
“She gives you everything she’s got,” Wood said. “She doesn’t owe us a dang thing.”