Cold Cash 123 Stays Unbeaten at 440 With Top All American Derby Time

            RUIDOSO DOWNS, New Mexico (August 19, 2011) – Rainbow Derby winner Cold Cash 123 raced to his sixth win at 440 yards without a defeat and set himself up as the horse to beat in the Grade 1, $1,316,760 All American Derby by setting the fastest-qualifying time on Friday afternoon.

            Owned by Walter and Carolyn Bay’s T Bill Stables, Cold Cash 123 raced the 440 yards in :20.833 to lead the qualifiers with the 10-fastest times from nine trials. Those 10 horses race in the All American Derby, quarter horse racing’s richest race for older horses, on September 4.

            The fastest-qualifying trial win capped a sensational two days for trainer Dwayne “Sleepy” Gilbreath. On Thursday afternoon he sent out Ochoa to set the fastest-qualifying time from 26 trials to the Grade 1, $2.4-million All American Futurity, North America’s richest race for two-year-olds of any breed. Ochoa could gain favoritism in the All American Futurity on Labor Day at Ruidoso Downs.

            “Well I guess I get to stay around for a couple of more weeks,” Gilbreath quipped after Cold Cash 123’s win. “Besides, it’s too hot back home in Texas.”

            Gilbreath, a member of the Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall of Fame, is shooting for his third All American Derby win and has an excellent chance with Cold Cash 123, the top-ranked three-year-old quarter horse in the nation.

            Cold Cash 123 broke alertly from the outside post position and was able to get by the very talented DM Steakn Thru Fire to win by one-half length. “The further he goes, the faster he gets,” said winning jockey Roy Baldillez.

            Dm Streakn Thru Fire posted the second-fastest qualifying time of :20.900.

            Cold Cash 123 raced to his third win from three starts this summer at Ruidoso Downs with his All American Derby trial win. He started his 2011 campaign with a dominating win in his Rainbow Derby trial when he approached the 440-yard track record with :20.762 time. The track record is :20.736 set by Strawkins while winning the 2006 Rainbow Derby.

            The gelded son of Oak Tree Special backed up that near-record effort with a neck win in the Grade 1, $900,000 Rainbow Derby, giving Gilbreath his record-extending seventh Rainbow Derby win.

            All three of his starts this summer at Ruidoso Downs have come at 440 yards and last year he became one of the rare two-year-olds to win three 440-yard races. He won his All American Futurity trial and then took the All American Futurity Juvenile and the Grade 1, $300,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship.

            “He’s a different kind of horse,” said Gilbreath. “He’s really laid back. If you shake him up, he gets mad so we just leave him alone.

            “What we need now is seven for seven.”

            Cold Cash 123 should be the favorite in the All American Derby, yet he will face serious challengers for the All American Derby victory, which includes an invitation to race in the Grade 1, $750,000 Champion Of Champions at Los Alamitos in December.

            DM Streakn Thru Fire, owned by Telling No Lies Partnership, was second behind Cold Cash 123 in their trial and was third, beaten by only a neck, behind Cold Cash 123 in the Rainbow Derby. The Mike Joiner-trained gelding qualified for last year’s All American Futurity and then finished third in the Grade 1, $1-million Texas Classic Futurity at Lone Star Park last November.

            Third-fastest qualifier JLS Mr Bigtime, the 2010 champion two-year-old gelding, prevailed in the tightest trial of the day when he won the fourth heat with a :20.933 time. He finished a nose in front of fourth-fastest qualifier Prospect To The Top and it was just another nose back to fifth-fastest qualifier Teller No Lies.

            JLS Mr Bigtime, owned and bred by John Soileau’s JLS Speed Horse Ranch, earned his championship last year when he finished second by a nose as the 2-1 favorite in the All American Futurity and then easily won the $527,000 Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Futurity for trainer Darrel Soileau.

            Ruidoso Derby winner Llano Teller, owned by Wootan Racing with the Reed Land and Cattle Company, tries for his second derby win this summer at Ruidoso Downs after winning his All American Derby trial.

            The Heath Reed-trained Llano Teller, ridden by G.R. Carter Jr., burst to the lead in his trial and prevailed by a neck over Flyin Fish. Llano Teller recorded the sixth-fastest qualifying time of :21.006 while Flyin Fish was clocked in :21.043.

            Llano Teller won the Ruidoso Derby by a neck to move to the top of the Ruidoso Downs three-year-old division. The gritty gelding then won his Rainbow Derby trial by one length before a being bumped at the start of the Rainbow Derby and finishing seventh.

2011 All American Derby Qualifiers: