Dont Let Down broke on top and held off a late bid by 2-5 favorite Separate Bet to win the Grade 1, $500,000 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs this afternoon. Ridden by Juan Vazquez for trainer John Buchanan  and owner/breeder Bobby Cox, of Fort Worth, TX, the gelded son of Stoli ran the 440 yards in :21.056 for his seventh win from 15 career starts.

“He broke good out of the gates,” Vazquez said. “I was still looking for (Separate Bet) and he came pretty fast at me, but I got lucky and got to the wire first.”

Separate Bet was sent off as the odds-on favorite by the standing-room only crowd off his Rainbow Derby win, his 400-yard track-record setting win in an allowance race, and setting the fastest qualifying time to the All American Derby. The Paul Jones-trained gelding broke in slightly at the start under jockey Freddie Martinez, and steadily gained ground in the last half of the race to finish second by a neck.

“We had a clean break, but the first one hundred yards he couldn’t get a hold of the racetrack, said Martinez. “He tried ’em. That four horse (Dont Let Down) opened up quite a bit; I was just hoping to get up for second.”

Hiclass La Jolla, also trained by Buchanan, was another half-length behind Separate Bet for third in the field of nine three-year-olds. Gus The Greek, Valiant Hero, Feature For You, Mightys First Call, Run Perry Run and Ivory James completed the order of finish. Royce Rogers was scratched.

Third-placed in last year’s $2 million All American Futurity, Dont Let Down finished second to Separate Bet in the All American Derby trials with the second-fastest time from all trials. He also won the Grade 1 Dash For Cash Futurity at Lone Star Park last fall, and finished second in the Grade 1 Texas Classic Futurity.

Buchanan, who also conditions All American Derby finalist Ivory James (9th), will send out Coronas Fast Dash in tomorrow’s $2 million All American Futurity.