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Sport	Horse Racing
Name	All-American Futurity
Subtitle	The World's Richest Horse Race
Number	13-01
Info	The quarterhorse was the workhorse of the American cowboy of the old West, but the animal's heritage in North America predates that of the cowboy. In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors brought horses with them to help in their explorations of New Spain. Some horses escaped, others were left behind when the Spaniards returned to Europe. A few horses were traded to the natives. The horses proliferated in the New World, with some returning to their wild state and other being domesticated by various Indian groups. By the time the English were establishing colonies along the Atlantic coast in the 17th century, Indians were willing to trade the descendants of the Spanish horses to the colonists for European-made steel tools and textiles. The colonists bred the speedy "native" horses with their own sturdy imported breed and the result was a durable workhorse with outstanding speed over short distances — about a quarter of a mile and, hence, the name "quarterhorse." Racing horses is a natural pastime among people who own them, but as the thoroughbred became a more important racehorse in the settled East, the quarterhorse moved West with the frontier where it served not only as a racer, but also doubled as a valuable work animal. Today, most of the quarterhorse racing is concentrated in states west of the Mississippi River, although there are quarterhorse tracks as far east as Suffolk County, N.Y., on the eastern end of Long Island. The Triple Crown of quarterhorse racing consists of the All- American Futurity, the Kansas Futurity and the Rainbow Futurity, all run at Ruidoso Downs against the majestic backdrop of the Sacramento Mountains in south-central New Mexico. The most important of these races is the All-American Futurity, the world's richest horse race with a total purse of more than 1 million dol. Of that total, the winning owner will earn more than 600,000 dol. for a race that lasts less than 22 seconds. Until 1973, the All- American was only 400 yards long, but then it was lengthened by 40 yards to make it a true quarter of a mile. The winner that year was the appropriately named Time to Thinkrich, who finished in a record time of 21.58 seconds.
Photo Info	Real wind captures the 1976 All-American Futurity
Copyright	© 1977, Editions Rencontre S.A., Lausanne Photo Ruidoso Downs Printed in Italy 03 005 13-01