Racing


Two Surprises In Freshman Races On Friday Night
RTM Stables’ James First Affair finished strongly to win the first of two races for 2-year-olds contested on Friday at Los Alamitos.

© Scott Martinez
Two Surprises In Freshman Races On Friday Night

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—APRIL 18, 2014—Facing a field that include the highly regarded Apollitical Blood, Robin Dunn, Larry Chapple and RTM Stables’ James First Affair finished strongly to win the first of two races for 2-year-olds contested on Friday at Los Alamitos.

Ridden by Guillermo Suarez for trainer Ryan Hanson, James First Affair scored a neck win in his debut while covering the 300 yards in :15.523. Sired by Ivory James and out of the La Primera Del Ano Derby winner Fancys First Affair, the Oklahoma-bred colt came into this race following a pair of nice morning drills. He had the fastest of 26 works on March 8 when posting a :12.10 drill and then had the fourth fastest of 20 workouts on March 27. His workout time was a :12.20.

Lazy Creek Ranch’s Oncebittennevershy, under jockey Calos Huerta, winning for trainer Jaime Gomez.
© Scott Martinez Photo
James First Affair was sent off at 8-1 odds for his debut, partly because of the presence of heavy favorite Apollitical Blood, who had posted a :12.0 drill on April 3 in preparation for this race. The son of 2010 World Champion Apollitical Blood was the 1-5 favorite in this event, but a troubled start set him behind during the early going. He rallied to finish in third place. James First Affair was bred by the late Kim Kessinger and Tom Bradbury, who campaigned the talented Fancys First Affair at Los Alamitos.

The other race for 2-year-olds went to Lazy Creek Ranch’s Oncebittennevershy. With Carlos Huerta aboard for trainer Jaime Gomez, the filly by FDD Dynasty led from start to finish en route to a ¾ length victory in a time of :15.842. Bred by Billy Smith and Downtime LLC, Oncebittennevershy was a 14-1 longshot in this race, perhaps a result of decent, but not spectacular, workout time of :12.70 on march 18 and :12.50 on April 5.

“The first time we worked her she had had a little cough so her time was not very fast,” Gomez said. “The second time was not super fast, but she did it very easy. She ran nicely and a lot better than in her first workout. Her winning time tonight was fine, but I am happy because she ran sharp and did everything right once again. We’re pointing her to the Kindergarten Futurity trials (on May 4).”

Gomez has won the Kindergarten Futurity a record seven times. He shares that mark with the legendary Blane Schvaneveldt.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com .