Preview Racing


Unbeaten My Favorite Check Heads Sunday Trials at Los Alamitos
Los Alamitos Race Course will host five trials Sunday for the $120,000-est. Maiden Stakes.

© Scott Martinez
Unbeaten My Favorite Check Heads Sunday Trials at Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JANUARY 29, 2016—Ronald Hartley’s My Favorite Check, unbeaten in her two career starts, Runner Rose, an impressive winner in her racing debut earlier this year, and talented sprinters Flay, Hot Looker and Girls On Fire are among the 42 runners that will compete in Sunday’s trials to the $111,000 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes. First post is 5:10 p.m (PST).

Five trials will be contested as part of the nine-race program with the horses with the 10 fastest time advancing to the Maiden Stakes final here on Sunday, January 31. Horses had to have been maidens as of December 1 in order to be eligible to compete in these trials.

Of the 42 trialists, 13 have broken their maiden since then. Trained by John Cooper, My Favorite Check was a late bloomer and is the only horse in the trials with a pair of wins under his belt.

Sired by Favorite Cartel, the Hartley-bred runner broke his maiden by a half-length on December 12 and then came back to win a second time by 3/4 lengths on New Year’s Day. Tony Guymon will pilot him from post two in the second of five trials. His rivals will include recent winners LDS Me Bad and Pedro Czech.

The fifth and final trial of the night is one of the toughest, as it will feature winners Runner Rose and Flay plus Dom Perry Own and Eternity, a pair of runners that have finished in the money in futurity trials at Los Alamitos. Dom Perry Own ran third in a trial to the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity, while Eternity was third in a trial to the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity. Paul Jones and Thompson Racing, Inc’s Flay won his debut by 3/4 lengths and then ran second to My Favorite Check on January 1, while EG High Desert Farms’ Runner Rose debuted with a 3/4 length win on January 16.

Ed Allred’s Hot Looker, a full brother to 2014 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity winner He Looks Hot, will be head the third trial, while facing Martha Wells’ runaway maiden winner Girls On Fire. Wells’ Get It Quick and Juan Villalvazo’s Cucuro are two to watch as well.

100-Yard Allowance Dash Heads Saturday's Program

EG High Desert Farms’ The Perfect Love, winner of the Tustin Handicap last summer, will be in action in racing’s fastest race, a 100-yard dash to be contested as the eighth race on Saturday night. The short sprint is the main event among three allowances to be contested at Los Alamitos with first post set for 6 p.m. (PST).

EG High Desert Farms’ stakes winning The Perfect Love will be in action Saturday night at Los Alamitos Race Course.
© Scott Martinez
The Perfect Love enjoyed a great streak last year when he won three consecutive races while displaying blazing speed out of the gate. The 4-year-old Hawkish mare has lost her last four starts, but those outings have come against top caliber competition and her last outing was in the Grade 1 Southern California Derby. Since winning the Tustin Handicap over the ultra-quick Foo Who, The Perfect Love has taken on the likes of three-time derby winner Forget It, two-time derby winner Bac In Front, Grade 1 runner-up Jess Cuz, and Skinny Jeans.

All that is great, but The Perfect Love will still need to display great speed in order to win at 100 yards. Her rivals will include Golden State Derby finalist Valiant Energy, a winner in her last two outings, and A Corona Habit, a three-time winner at the high $30,000 claiming level.

Bring Me Home, a multiple stakes placed mare, Chic All The Way and BF Heros Legacy will complete the field.

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Two other allowances will also be contested on Saturday. Seven will leave the gate in a $10,000 event at 870 yards. George Sharp and Steve or Charisse Wolf’s PS Bettin On You ran second in his last start and he’s won three races by daylight in his career. The other allowance event is for fillies at 330 yards and will feature Jose Flores and Brad Hart’s Shut Out, which ran third in the Governor’s Cup Futurity last year. Strawfinders Jessee is another solid contender in this race.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.