RUIDOSO DOWNS -- The Marksman V and jockey Francisco Calderon broke sharply and led throughout the $829,372 Ruidoso Derby for 3-year-old quarter horses at Ruidoso Downs Race Track Saturday, scoring a length-and-three-quarters victory for owner Sammy Valeriano and trainer Heath Taylor. “My horse broke like a rocket,” Calderon said. “We were out front and in the last hundred yards he drifted but ran so smoothly. He was super impressive today.” The Marksman V ran the 400 yards in a time of 19.462 seconds and paid $16, $8.20 and $4.80. The gelding is a home-bred sired by Apollitical Jess out of the mare Bellissima Chocolata by Valiant Hero. It’s the first stakes victory for The Marksman V, having run second in the Texas Classic Juvenile at Lone Star Park as a 2-year-old last November to Flying Rabit 123; that gelding won the $100,000 Ruidoso Invitational Stakes Saturday. “The Marksman V is paid up in the Rainbow Derby and if he comes back sound that will be our next venture,” Taylor said after the race. Flying Rabbit 123 and jockey Juan Pulido won the Ruidoso Inviational by three-quarters of a length, covering the 400 yards in 19.956 seconds and paying $5, $3.20 and $2.40. The gelding is sired by Flying Cowboy 123 out of the mare Hardtoget by Foose. Racing continues at Ruidoso Downs today with the running of the $1-million Ruidoso Futurity. Post time is 1 p.m.
