LOS ALAMITOS, CA— MARCH 20, 2015—Ron and Jeryl Hartley’s champion Moonist will look to start a new winning streak when he faces some very talented rivals in Sunday’s $20,000 Katella Handicap on Sunday at Los Alamitos. The 8-race program will start at 5:20 p.m. with the popular early Pick 4 getting underway with the night’s first race. The Pick 4 has averaged a pool of over $150,000 this month.

Moonist will make his first start since his bid for a 10th straight victory was stopped by fellow champion Matabari in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Championship on February 15. Prior to that second place finish, Moonist had not lost a race in 12 months.

His nine-race win streak included four derby victories at Los Alamitos last year, which made him the first 3-year-old to accomplish that feat at the Orange County track. Cesar De Alba will ride and John Cooper will saddle the now 4-year-old Separatist gelding. Moonist enters with a career record of 14 wins in 22 starts and a win here would take him over the $500,000 mark in earnings. He’s at $492,084 now.

Martha Wells’ New Look will also compete in the Katella. A winner of eight of 33 starts and over $250,000, The Walk Thru Fire gelding won the 2012 El Primero Del Ano Derby and the Bank of America California Challenge last year.

Other stakes winners in this field include 550-yard Scott Lewis Handicap winner Well And Good, Cypress Handicap winner Unchangeable, and Markel Stakes winner Another Storm.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.