Preview Racing


BH Lisas Boy Looks To Defend Vessels Maturity Title On Sunday At Los Alamitos
BH Lisas Boy looks to defend his Vessels Maturity title in the Grade 1, $170,500 race on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

© Scott Martinez
BH Lisas Boy Looks To Defend Vessels Maturity Title On Sunday At Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JULY 7, 2018—Bill Hoburg's BH Lisas Boy looks to defend his Vessels Maturity title when he takes on a strong field headed by fastest qualifier Tarzanito in the Grade 1, $170,500 race on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

The winner of the Vessels Maturity final will earn a berth to the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions to be held here on Saturday, December 15.

BH Lisas Boy has already defending one title this year when winning the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship for the second straight year. He looked ready for his title defense when he competed in the Vessels trials on June 17, as he posted the second fastest qualifying time of :19.731.

"That's my boy," said Hoburg on the night of the trials.

BH Lisas Boy was making his first start since running second in the Moonist Handicap on March 25.

"I was concerned with the layoff that long," Hoburg added. "He doesn't have the best knees in the world. I didn't want to get too many works under him for free. We had two light works under him and I was hoping that was enough. It was a little nerve wracking, but it worked out alright. He's changed my life."

BH Lisas Boy has won 19 of 31 career starts. Cesar De Alba will ride.

A1A Racing LLC's Tarzanito overcame some trouble at the Trained by Yanet Rodriguez, the Favorite Cartel horse will be ridden by Eddie Garcia, the all-time leading Quarter Horse jockey at Los Alamitos in wins and stakes wins.

"The horse has been training great," Garcia said. "The (connections) gave him about three to four months off and he feels refreshed. I told the owner how much I liked his chances in this race because the two breezes that he had, he worked incredible. He showed his Favorite Cartel breeding. He had that turbo from his Thoroughbred bloodlines."

Favorite Cartel is the son of the late champion Favorite Trick, Thoroughbred racing's 1997 Horse of the Year.

"The last 30 yards is where I needed him to respond and he did exactly that," Garcia added.

The field from the rail out: Billionaire Boy, Jess Hawk, Rite Regal, Tarzanito, Flash N Bling, BH Lisas Boy, Zoomin For Spuds, Katies Easy Moves, Branquino, and Seared.  

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.