LOS ALAMITOS, CA— OCTOBER 25, 2014—The days surrounding the Wild West Futurity trials were extremely busy for Ryan Hanson. The trainer was an active buyer in the Los Alamitos Equine Sale on Saturday and Sunday and very active on the night of the trials. He saddled a pair of trial winners to the $141,800 Wild West Futurity headed by fastest qualifier Steinway Ivory for owners Rob Evans and Hanson Racing LLC. And that was only the beginning.

The following morning, Hanson was back in his barn at Los Alamitos at 3 a.m. to see off several horses from his stable that traveled to compete in last weekend’s Bank of America Racing Challenge at Prairie Meadows in Iowa. Hanson then drove up to the California Coast to San Luis Obispo where 12 hours later he married racing analyst Michelle Yu, a popular host on HRTV and also the host of the satellite broadcast show during the Thoroughbred meets at Los Alamitos Race Course.

"I (was) told not be late," said Hanson with a smile.

Hanson was back in the barn the following morning to prepare his horses for races like this Sunday’s Wild West final. Steinway Ivory leads the way after his neck victory in the trials in the fastest qualifying time of :17.779. Ridden by Guillermo Suarez, the victory was the Ivory James gelding’s fourth in eight career starts.

“He has ability and is a solid horse,” Hanson said. “He’s been good to us. Rob Evans and I have been friends for a while now and it’s nice to have this horse make the final. This horse has drawn the outside a couple of times and he doesn’t want to run when he’s on the outside. He ran a nice race in the trials (from post five). Guillermo has helped us since the Spring. He’s worked hard for us and he tries hard on race nights. “

Steinway Ivory will start from post four on Sunday night. Hanson will also saddle Layne Sprouse’s CR Proud Prince in the Wild West.

“Layne is from Utah and we’ve had horses for him before,” Hanson continued. “This horse was previously trained by Chancey Spencer. He sent us a good horse that was ready to run. We didn’t have to do too much. The horse was ready.”

Reed Pierson’s Cartels Fire picked up his second win in seven starts when he won his trial race back on October 5. He’ll be ridden by Eduardo Nicasio for trainer Paul Jones on Sunday.

“We bought this horse at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale for $5,500 last year,” Pierson said. “He’s out of a First Down Dash mare and that never hurts a horse. We’ve now made the finals of four futurities with him. He’s been a fun horse to own.

Pierson campaigned the standout Sparky E Boy, the runner-up in the 2011 Champion of Champions. Mimi Wells’ trial winner Koolist, second fastest qualifier Gunnin For Doe, Five Bar Sassy, Azhecansee, Juicy Walk, Cybil, and As Needed will complete the field.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.