Yanque on a roll for Wild West Futurity

The 2-year-old gelding Yanque will get a second chance in a six-figure race in Sunday’s $129,100 Wild West Futurity for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos.

In July, Yanque finished a troubled eighth in the $385,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity at 350 yards.

Yanque has not been beaten since, winning The Plan Handicap on Sept. 8 and a division of the Wild West Futurity trials on Oct. 8. Ridden by Cruz Mendez, Yanque ran 350 yards in the time trials in 17.68 seconds, setting the fastest qualifying time.

Yanque has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $28,774, all for owner Martha Wells and trainer Matt Fales, racing at Turf Paradise and Los Alamitos.

The Wild West Futurity is restricted to horses that made at least two starts before the Oct. 8 time trials at tracks in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming or in Canada.

There were four divisions of the trials. L Bar D Classic Trip, Moonie Blues, and Warhock also won trial races. L Bar D Classic Trip and Warhock previously raced in Washington and Oregon. Moonie Blues, one of three fillies in the 10-runner final, made her first two starts in Idaho.

Moonie Blues won a time trial in 17.83 seconds for the second-fastest qualifying time. Trained by Jaime Gomez for owner and breeder Lisa Anderson, Moonie Blues has won 3 of 5 starts. This will be her stakes debut.

Aside from Yanque, the only other finalist to appear in a six-figure stakes is CM Once Ina Bluemoon, who was fourth in the $104,376 Bitterroot Futurity in Idaho in June.