All American Futurity
The All American Futurity is a race for two-year-old American Quarter Horse racehorses run at Ruidoso Downs Race Track in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico on Labor Day. It is the last leg of the AQHA Triple Crown that has only been won once, by Special Effort in 1981. A $4 million bonus was once offered to the horse that could sweep all three Triple Crown races. It started in 1959, with a purse of $129,686.85. It has always billed itself as the richest race in American Quarter Horse racing; in 1978, the purse was over a million dollars and in 1982, the winner's portion of the purse totaled over a million dollars for the first time. The 1980 edition was carried live in prime-time on CBS. The 2024 version of the race had a purse of $3 million and a winner's share of $1.5 million, making it one of the richest races in North America.
The track record was set at this race in 2006, when No Secrets Here finished in 20.886 seconds for 440 yards, for an average speed of 43.091 miles/hr.
The 2024 All American Futurity was contested at The Downs at Albuquerque in Albuquerque, New Mexico due to flood damage to Ruidoso Downs. The fate of the 2025 race is unclear, as Ruidoso Downs suffered additional flood damage in early July 2025 and subsequently called off racing for the remainder of the year.