HEARTSWIDEOPEN FINISHES SECOND IN RECORD RUN
RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—AUGUST 31, 2008—A neck stopped Heartswideopen in her quest to surpass world champion Refrigerator as quarter horse racing’s all-time leading money earner. World champion Refrigerator earned $2,126,309 and Heartswideopen has earned $1,885,282, fourth on the all-time leading money-earning list.
Manny and Javier Rodriguez's Heartswideopen was sent off as the strong favorite in the $1,065,648 All American Derby (G1) on Sunday afternoon at Ruidoso Downs.
It was FEATURE MR JESS filly's second defeat from 13 career starts and ended a nine-race winning streak for the 2007 champion two-year-old and champion two-year-old filly. She had made each of her 12 previous starts on a fast track.
"The race track kind of got away from her and she couldn't make her comfortable run when I asked her,” said Heartswideopen’s jockey Bonifacio Perez.
It is likely the final career start for Heartswideopen. Trainer Carl Draper has said that she will be bred in 2009, but left open the option that she could return to racing after the breeding season for a limited campaign. She will only race again if she is completely sound and happy, according to Draper.
Wild Six, the multiple Grade 1 stakes winning daughter of TRES SEIS picked up $63,939. The fourth-place effort pushed her career earnings to nearly $665,000.
The complete order of finish in the All American Derby was Noconi, Heartswideopn, Decati, Wild Six, Possum Fust, First Moonflash, White Or Wrong, First Timber, MBN Finest Hour and Captain Courage.
