A little while after Ray Arewethereyet finished second on Sunday at Arapahoe Park and picked up a check for $2,900, Ruda made Saratoga her third winning venue this year and the check for $38,500 vaulted First Dude into new territory – career progeny earnings of $25,027,973.

    In a $70,000 starter allowance test that was originally scheduled for the grass but went off at a mile and a quarter over the main track, red-hot Jose Ortiz had Ruda five lengths in front in mid-stretch, and she coasted to the wire nearly eight lengths in front, clocked in 2:09.36. The 4-year-old filly bred by Harvey Morris didn’t race at two or three, and raised her record to 3-0-1 in six starts this year. She previously had won at Tampa Bay Downs and Monmouth Park and her earnings jumped to $75,885. 

  First Dude is approaching $2 million in earnings for the year in which he has had 35 winners who have won 62 races; his runners have now visited the winners’ circle 950 times overall.