Foals by The Fifty are eligible for Fuego races. This is how nomination works — who qualifies, what it costs, and when it is due.
The Fifty are finalized on October 15. Nominations will be accepted once the roster is official. Until then, questions go to office@racefuego.com.
Every horse in every Fuego race must be by a Fuego stallion and currently nominated. No Fuego race is open to horses outside the program.
The stallion must be enrolled in the year your foal's pregnancy was established. The only two exceptions are the rebreed rule and the first-year rule, both below.
Horses must be nominated every year, without a lapse, to stay eligible for any Fuego race. Only one nomination payment is due per horse per calendar year.
If your horse's sire later leaves the program, your horse remains eligible for any Fuego race as long as you keep its nominations current.
Nomination payments are non-refundable and non-transferable — a payment cannot be moved to another horse.
A foal's Division Year decides two things: whether its sire was enrolled, and which flight the foal runs in. It is set once and never changes.
For a natural carry, the Division Year is simply the year the mare got in foal.
The Division Year is the year the embryo was placed in the recipient mare and a successful pregnancy resulted — not the year the embryo was created. A transfer that does not result in a pregnancy does not establish a Division Year.
When you nominate, you give the date the pregnancy was established (or the date of the transfer that produced it). Fuego computes the Division Year from that date — you are never asked for a “conception year.”
A horse is nominated every year, starting its weanling year. Each year the nomination is $700 at every age if paid by the deadline. Weanlings and yearlings get a late window at $800; two-year-olds and older do not. Once the window closes, the horse can only come back by reinstatement.
Reinstatement amounts include the nomination payments that were missed. A horse that comes back by reinstatement is current from that point and is nominated every year after like any other.
The $100,000 time-of-entry nomination is a single payment: it reinstates the horse into the program, covers its entry fee, and goes entirely to the purse.
A deadline is met only when the full amount, including any processing fee, is paid. A check is timely if postmarked on or before the deadline; ACH, card, and cash payments are timely when received.
Fuego groups The Fifty into four flights by highest advertised stud fee, and runs each race in four divisions — one per flight. Your foal's flight is its sire's flight in the foal's Division Year.
2026 is the first year for each of The Fifty. That means every existing foal by a Fuego stallion — of any age — can be nominated this year.
Each time a stallion enters or re-enters the program, all of his existing offspring are grandfathered in. They are eligible for first-time nomination without reinstatement fees. Yearlings and older horses pay the nominations for the years already missed, without penalty.
After a stallion's first year in the program, only weanlings can be nominated for the first time. An older horse nominated for the first time after that is subject to reinstatement.
Grandfather treatment applies again on re-entry under a different slot: all of the stallion's offspring of any age, including those from years he was not enrolled, are eligible on the same terms.
No reinstatement fee. From here the horse is nominated every year like any other.
Both come back to the same question: what year was the pregnancy established, and was the sire enrolled that year?
If the foal is the result of a rebreed to a stallion no longer enrolled, provide a copy of the breeding contract and a letter from the stallion owner verifying the foal was a result of a rebreed from a year the stallion was enrolled in Fuego.
The foal's flight is set by the stallion's advertised stud fee for the foal's Division Year.
An embryo may be created in one year and transferred in another. The Division Year is the year it was transferred into a recipient mare and a successful pregnancy resulted — not the year it was created.
That year sets the flight, by the sire's highest advertised fee for that year, and the sire must be enrolled in that year for the foal to be eligible.
Processing fees are added on top of the amount owed. They are not credited against the nomination, and a deadline is not met until the full amount including the fee is paid.
No processing fee. A check is timely if postmarked on or before the deadline. Cash is timely when received.
A 1% processing fee is added. Timely when received.
A 4% processing fee is added. Timely when received.
Papers can follow later. Parentage verification cannot — it is a condition of starting in any final.
AQHA or APHA registration papers are not needed at the time of nomination. When you receive them, email a copy to office@racefuego.com.
Every nominated horse must have AQHA or APHA DNA parentage verification to the nominated stallion on file. Fuego may require confirmation of parentage at any time, and will require it of every finalist as a condition of starting in a final.
Entry payments for the 2028 Fuego Futurity are made in the horse's two-year-old year, in four installments.
If the February 15 payment is missed, the horse may only enter by the $100,000 time-of-entry nomination, made before May 15. That payment reinstates the horse, includes the entry fee, and goes entirely to the purse. Entry fees are non-refundable except as provided under the Race Rules.
Conditions, divisions, and purse allocation for each race are published no later than the December 1 stallion payment deadline roughly eighteen months before that race is run.
The 2028 Fuego Futurity for two-year-olds, run in four flight divisions at Remington Park. Fuego publishes the total distribution for each year's races; the figure published for a year applies to that year.
The finals pay out 80 / 10 / 10 — out of the $5,000,000, not in addition to it: $4,000,000 in purse money to racehorse owners, $500,000 to breeders, and $500,000 to slot holders.
Trial payouts go 100% to the horse owner. The top three are paid on each trial.
| Flight | Total purse |
|---|---|
| Inferno | $2,000,000 |
| Caliente | $1,000,000 |
| Azul | $1,000,000 |
| Ember | $1,000,000 |
Fuego will not reduce the published distribution, or change its allocation among flights or the 80 / 10 / 10 split, after the January 15 balance deadline for that year. Awards are paid on the official order of finish and require a current, signed W-9 from the payee. The breeder award goes to the breeder of record on the AQHA or APHA registration certificate.
A single Championship Day, launching with the Fuego Futurity for two-year-olds in four flight divisions. Fuego commits to running the Futurity every year the program operates.
Fuego plans to add a Derby and an Oaks for three-year-olds alongside the Futurity, and expects to run the championship across two or more days.
Fuego plans to add an Open Championship Maturity for horses four and up. “Open” refers to age only — every horse must still be by a Fuego stallion and currently nominated.
The 2029 and 2030 races are a plan Fuego is working toward, not a guarantee. They are subject to regulatory approval, host track agreement, and participation levels. A horse that runs in 2028 and stays current on its nominations remains eligible for them.
The office answers nomination questions by email. Nominations open after October 15, 2026, once The Fifty are final.
This page summarizes the nomination provisions of the Fuego Incentive Program Rules for convenience. The Rules and the Stallion Slot and Nomination Agreement govern, and Fuego may change, add to, or supplement them at its discretion. Should unforeseen circumstances prevent the 2028 Championship Day from being held at Remington Park, the event will move to an alternate track or program entry fees will be refunded; nomination fees are non-refundable in either case.