Preview Racing


PCQHRA Breeders' Derby Kicks Off Great Quarter Horse Weekend at Los Alamitos
AQHA champion 2-year-old gelding Ima Fearless Hero will in action Friday night in the PCQHRA Breeders' Derby.

© Scott Martinez
PCQHRA Breeders' Derby Kicks Off Great Quarter Horse Weekend at Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—SEPTEMBER 28, 2016—Three of the richest Quarter Horses from the 2015 racing season will headline the field to the PCQHRA Breeders Derby on Friday at Los Alamitos.

The 400-yard derby kicks off a great weekend of action at the Orange County oval that will also feature the running of the Blane Schvaneveldt Handicap and Kip Didericksen Handicap on Friday and the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity on Saturday. The trials to the Wild West Futurity will be held on Sunday while the 11th annual Los Alamitos Equine Sale will also be featured during the day on Saturday and Sunday starting at 10 a.m. on both days.

The Los Alamitos Equine Sale will feature a total consignment of over 300 yearlings, broodmares and horses of racing age.

The Breeders Derby will highlight Friday’s eight-race card and it will feature S-Quarter K Racing’s Ima Fearless Hero, the AQHA champion 2-year-old gelding and Los Alamitos’ leading money winner from last year, facing Jaime Gomez’s Docs Best Card, the runner-up in three Grade 1 futurities last year. Trained by Jose Flores, Ima Fearless Hero banked $982,699 last year, while Docs Best Card raced to $736,595 in earnings. Ima Fearless Hero won the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity over Docs Best Card. The latter will have an opportunity to avenge that loss on Friday night.

Dr. Steve Burns’ Little Talks won the Golden State Million Futurity last year, a race in which Docs Best Card finished in second place as well. The Favorite Cartel filly earned $461,870 during her freshman campaign to make the second leading money winning filly at Los Alamitos last year. Little Talks posted the fastest qualifying time in the September 10 derby trials and will now look to add some dough to her career earnings in the final. She’ll be joined in the derby field by her half-sister and stablemate You Can Fly, which won her derby trial in the second fastest qualifying time of the night. Also owned by Dr. Burns, You Can Fly is by Walk Thru Fire. Little Talks and You Can Fly are out of the mare Babe On The Fly. Mike Casselman will saddle the two fillies.

Another one to watch is Ed Allred and Tom Seibly’s Stel Easy, a gelding by Stel Corona riding the crest of a three-race win streak. Trained by Scott Willoughby, Stel Easy has won five out of his last six outings. He beat Docs Best Card by a nose in their trial race.

The Breeders Derby field will also feature the surprising Governor’s Cup Derby winner Unclaimed Dividend plus Governor’s Cup runner-up Thermonuclear Energy, Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes winner My Favorite Check, Royaltys Authority and Uno Corona Mas.

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Jim Walker’s Zoomin For Spuds, the winner of the Wild West Futurity last year and already a two-time stakes winner at Los Alamitos in 2016, will lead a strong seven-horse field in the running of the $20,000 Blane Schvaneveldt Handicap at 400 yards on Friday at Los Alamitos. The Schvaneveldt is set as the seventh race on the eight-race program that begins at 7 p.m.

Zooming For Spuds loves racing at Los Alamitos. The gelding by Zoomin For Bux has made six starts at the Cypress track and he’s won four of those outings and finished second in the other two. In addition to his Wild West win, Zoomin For Spuds also won the Costa Mesa and Fullerton handicaps earlier this year, both of those victories coming by daylight margins. Monty Arrossa will saddle the Idaho-bred.

Other top names in the Blane Schvaneveldt includes the top two finishers in the Western States Breeders Derby in Katies Easy Moves and Shez A Motor Scooter as well as Balata Joe Now, the third place finisher in last year’s Schvaneveldt. Flyin Lion, second in the Merial California Distaff Challenge, and L Bar D Sweet Fantsy, the winner of the Evergreen Park Distaff Challenge in Iowa, are two others to watch here.

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The field to the Kip Didericksen will be headed by Jim Walker’s Time For Jesse Lee, a horse with past stakes experience at Los Alamitos. Time For Jesse Lee has certainly picked up the frequent flyer miles this season, as Los Alamitos will be the eighth different track he’s raced in since August of 2015.

Since then, Time For Jesse Lee has raced in places like Hialeah Park, Lone Star Park, Jerome, Oneida and more. He’ll be going after his 16th career win on Friday night.

Also racing on Friday night will be Ruben Magallanes’ For Sweet Jess, a winner of six of his last seven starts. That string of wins includes the Sun Downs Adequan Derby regional. For Sweet Jess’s only loss during his last seven stars came in the Grade 2, $151,000 AQHA Juvenile Challenge Championship at Lone Star Park last year. He’ll use the Kip Didericksen as a springboard to the Adequan Challenge final.

Nielson Brown’s A Good Move, third in the Western States Breeders Derby will also be in action.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.