Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino (Sunday, December 30, 2007)

Rapper S S captures $105,950 Riley Allison Futurity

Built For Fun wins Grade 2 $161,040 Sunland Winter QH Futurity

Gleaming Elegance sets new track record in $50,000 Bold Ego Handicap

 

Rapper S S wore down an extremely fast Yonegwa in the final furlong to annex

the prestigious $105,950 Riley Allison Thoroughbred Futurity at Sunland Park

Racetrack and Casino on Sunday.

 

With Joe Martinez in the irons, Rapper S S chased the fleet Yonegwa though

much of the six and one-half furlong stakes race. The grey colt by Kentucky

Derby winner Monarchos had more in reserve and raced past his stubborn

rival in deep stretch to win by one and one-quarter lengths.

 

The top two finishers pulled well clear of solid field. Nearly 9-lengths separated

the runner-up from third place finisher Capetown Royal.

 

Rapper S S zipped through the feature in an impressive 1:15.81. He earned

$63,570 for winning owner Lathrop Hoffman of Monrovia, California. The promising

grey roan colt has 3 wins from 5 starts.

 

Winning trainer Henry Dominguez indicated that the Riley Allison would serve

well as a prep for the $600,000 WinStar Derby to be run at Sunland Park on

Sunday, March 16. Dominguez also trained Capetown Royal, a $310,000

two-year-old purchase. The son of Cape Town made his career debut.

 

Triple stakes winner Yonegwa carved out a fast pace and led until mid-stretch.

The game Kafwain colt had to settle for second. He earned $23,309, pushing

his lifetime take to over $161,000.

 

Wild Posse, Pescadero, Golem and Trixie Bit rounded out the order of finish.

 

 

Built For Fun scored a dominant one-length win in the Grade 2 $161,040 Sunland Park

Winter Quarter Horse Futurity with jockey Miguel Perez in the saddle. The grey filly by

Separatist was let go at odds of 4-1 in favor of the popular choices of Brown Eye Suze and

Bcr Flyin Bayou.

 

The quick filly behaved nicely in the gate and propelled to the front in the early stages

of the graded feature at 400 yards. Perez merely hand rode her home to a convincing

victory over Prissy B Panther and top qualifier Bcr Flyin Bayou.

 

The winner earned a $75,689 paycheck for owner Veronica Yolanda Amezua de Perez

of El Paso, Texas. She was timed in 19 seconds, good for a 103 speed index.

 

The 2-1 favorite Brown Eye Suze was bumped repeatedly and was no threat in ninth.

 

A Real Shaker was a scratch at the gate.

 

Gleaming Elegance steamrolled to a stylish five and one-half length win in the $50,000

Bold Ego Handicap and set a new track record for five and one-half furlongs in 1:02.28.

She eclipsed the benchmark set by Treasure Hunt of 1:02.39 set in 2003.

 

The royally bred daughter of High Yield broke fast along the rail and held the speedy

favorite Kin to a Kitty at bay thoughout the first 3 furlongs. Heading into the stretch,

jockey Casey Lambert asked for speed and Gleaming Elegance re-broke and took

full command through the stretch drive.

 

Lambert said after the race, “We had an easy trip. Steve (Asmussen) told me she was

an extremely fast filly. He told me to be as still as possible so she wouldn’t run off too

soon. When she changed leads off the turn, she just took off.”

 

The fast four-year-old Florida-bred filly earned $30,000 from her fourth career victory.

 

Steve Asmussen, the nation’s leading trainer in races won, collected his first win of

the Sunland Park meet with the Bold Ego Handicap.

 

Kranky Karol sliced through the pack late to get second place.

 

42-1 longshot Diamond Chimes finished one-length back in third.

 

Live racing resumes on Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.