Dateline: 8/27/02

The village of Ruidoso, normally calm and peaceful, will be bustling this week as thousands take their final summer trips and flood into Ruidoso Downs Racetrack and Casino to watch America’s greatest two-year-old American Quarter Horses compete in the Labor Day All American Futurity (G1).

Qualifier Profiles Results Article Chart Post Positions & Odds AB What A Runner Eye Opening Episode Meteoric Silvered Eyes Flys R Streakin First To Flash Special Red Warrior Andthebeatgoeson First Place Queen The Down Side

While the All American is Ruidoso Downs’ season finale, this week, the town and the track offer something for everyone. For a complete listing, visit The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal Online. The special Web site includes links to the city of Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs Racetrack & Casino, Weather and Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale.

Ruidoso Downs Schedule of Events:

• August 31
  • Brigand Handicap
    3-Year-Olds & Up, 1000 Yards
  • All American Gold Cup (G3)
    3-Year-Olds & Up, 440 yards
• September 1
  • All American Derby (G1)
    3-Year-Olds, 440 Yards
• September 2
  • All American Juvenile
    2-Year-Olds, 440 Yards
  • All American Futurity (G1)
    2-Year-Olds, 440 Yards

SPECIAL EVENTS

• 23rd Annual Jay Pumphrey Cowboy Classic Golf Tournament
  LOCATION: Links at Sierra Blanca
  DATE: August 27 & 28
  TIME: 1 p.m. Central (Noon Mountain)

• All American Call to the Post Lunch & Post Position Draw
  LOCATION: Ruidoso Downs Race Track Turf Club
  DATE: Thursday, August 29
  TIME: Noon Central (11 a.m. Mountain)

• Ruidoso Select Yearling Sales - Quarter Horse Yearling Sale
  LOCATION: Ruidoso Downs Sports Complex
  DATE: August 30-September 1
  TIME: 6:30 p.m. Central (5:30 p.m. Mountain)

The All American Futurity will be telecast live on TVG at 5 p.m. Central time on Labor Day. Additional coverage of the one-hour special will be available on Fox Sports Net West 2, Rocky Mountain and Arizona. TVG Network is available on Dish Network - Channel 405 and in some select cable markets. “America’s Horse,” AQHA’s weekly television show on Outdoor Life Network, will have a special one-hour program on Tuesday, September 3, dedicated to the All American Futurity at 7 p.m. Central time, repeating at 10 p.m. Central (8 p.m. Pacific). OLN is available in most cable markets and on Dish Network 151 / DIRECTV 608.

Today’s Profile, First Place Queen

FIRST PLACE QUEEN

Gray filly
First Place Dash-Illusive Princess by Illusivo
Owner: Newcomb Cattle Co., Elk City, Oklahoma;
Micah Leslie, Laguna Beach, California
Breeder: Jerry Windham, College Station, Texas
Trainer: John Bassett
Qualifying Jockey: Joe Badilla Jr.

RACE RECORD:

• Two wins in three starts, earnings of $5,264.
• Ran second in All American trial heat nine, three-quarters of a length behind fourth-fastest qualifier Special Red Warrior.
• Recorded the seventh-fastest qualifying time of :21.316.
• Won her first two races, including a Rainbow Futurity (G1) trial on July 5.

CONNECTIONS:

• Based in Elk City, Oklahoma, co-owner Newcomb Cattle Co. consists of Bob Newcomb and his sons, Link and Lake. Bob is a partner in the Bank of Western Oklahoma. A resident of Laguna Beach, California, Link, 40, is the chief operating officer of Oakley Corp., a technology company whose products include sunglasses. Lake, 40, heads the family's cattle business. The Newcombs have been racing American Quarter Horses for about 10 years. Their broodmare band will include First Place Queen when her racing career ends. They also show English Bulldogs; Bob and Link are national officers of the Bulldog Club of America.
• An attorney and resident of Laguna Beach, Micah Leslie, 49, co-owns with Link Ed Burke Memorial Futurity (G1) fastest qualifier Straw Flying Dash and Yavapai Downs Futurity (G3) runner-up Jess Breakin Rules. The partnership acquired First Place Queen for $23,500 at last year's Ruidoso Yearling Sale.
• A resident of Dewey, Arizona, John Bassett, 53, won his first All American Futurity (G1) in 1999 with champion A Delightful Dasher. Winning last year's race with Ausual Suspect made Bassett one of only seven trainers to win it more than once. A trainer since 1973, when the death of his father, Joe, forced him to take over the family stable, Bassett has trained the winners of 763 races and the earners of more than $10.2 million. His first stakes winner, Rebel Della, won the 1973 El Primero del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos. Bassett and his wife, Ann, have two daughters, Jamie and Jordan, and one son, Joe.
• Breeder Jerry Windham has been breeding American Quarter Horses for 20 consecutive years. An AQHA Past President and resident of College Station, Texas, Windham in his own name has bred 28 stakes winners, including Grade 1 winners Vital Sign, Vital Time and Doing Magic, and the earners of more than $4.8 million.
• Jockey Joe Badilla Jr. won the 1999 All American Futurity with A Delightful Dasher. A native of Tucson, Arizona, the California-based rider has been voted AQHA Champion Jockey in 1995, '98, '99 and 2001. In 1999, he became the first American Quarter Horse jockey to ride the earners of more than $3 million in a single season when his mounts earned $3,647,747. Since he began his career in 1990, Badilla's mounts have won 1,617 races and have earned $19,000,845. He currently stands third in the American Quarter Horse jockey standings at Los Alamitos.

PEDIGREE NOTES:

• First Place Queen represents the first All American Futurity finalist sired by First Place Dash, a stallion by all-time leading sire and world champion First Down Dash. Bred and campaigned by Jerry Windham, First Place Dash raced from 1996-97 and won six of 14 races -- including the Manor Downs Futurity (G2) -- and earned $64,160. From two crops, the stallion has sired five stakes winners and the earners of $1,036,102. In May 2001, First Place Dash died at the age of 7 following a stall accident.
• Bred and raced by Windham, Illusive Princess won three of eight races, one stakes, and earned $27,283. Her three starters include First Place Princess, a full sister to First Place Queen, that won this year's Ford East Challenge (G3) at Delta Downs and the Ruidoso 550 Championship at Ruidoso Downs.

Article and logo courtesy of AQHA from a press release.

All articles in the series:

• Results Article
• Chart
• Post Positions & Odds

• AB WHAT A RUNNER
• FIRST TO FLASH
• SILVERED EYES
• SPECIAL RED WARRIOR
• FLYS R STREAKIN
• METEORIC
• FIRST PLACE QUEEN
• ANDTHEBEATGOESON
• THE DOWN SIDE
• EYE OPENING EPISODE