LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JULY 13, 2018—Track record holder J Fire Up returns to action for the first time since winning the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity when the brilliant Kiddy Up filly heads the first of two trials to the Governor's Cup Derby on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

A pair of 400-yard trials, each featuring a full field of 10 sophomores, will be featured with the horses with the 10 fastest times returning here for the derby final on California Breeders Champions Night on Saturday, July 28.

Owned by Darling Farms, Jaime Gomez, and Ernesto Solis, J Fire Up banked $1,430,411 in 2017 to set the highest single season earnings figure for a filly or mare in the history of Los Alamitos Race Course. J Fire Up won three futurities here last year, including a ¾ length win in the Governor's Cup Futurity plus the Two Million final. She also won the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity. Named the AQHA champion 2-year-old and champion 2-year-old filly last year, J Fire Up will be looking to add to her great list of accomplishments with a solid effort on Sunday night. The Gomez-bred and trained filly will be going after her eighth win in 10 career starts.

"I'm excited to see her race again," Gomez said. "She's been training nicely and had a perfect vacation after her 2-year-old campaign."

J Fire Up had a minor clean up ankle surgery following her 2-year-old campaign and she spent a good portion of the winter recovering at Gomez's ranch under the steady watch of ranch foreman Ernesto Solis.

"It was great to be able to spend some time with this wonderful filly," Solis said. "Now it's time for her to get back to work and Jaime has her ready."

Eduardo Nicasio will ride J Fire Up, who picks up the mount on the sorrel filly in place of his younger brother Jose Nicasio. The latter is not able to ride this weekend after being suspended by the racing stewards for being involved in several disqualifications over a short span. J Fire Up will start from post number eight in the seventh race. This field will feature multiple graded stakes finalist The Revenant and his half-sister Remember The Rose, who is also a Grade 1 finalist. The Revenant finished third in the Governor's Cup Futurity last year and also raced in the PCQHRA Breeders and Golden State Million futurities and was fourth in the El Primero Del Ano Derby on March 31.

The second and final trial of the night, which also sees 10 runners in action, will be headed by the often fantastic gelding Yanque, owned and bred by Martha Wells and trained by Matt Fales.

The son of Favorite Cartel has often been superb in trial races. He rallied to win his Los Alamitos Winter Derby trial by a head back on January 20 and then delivered a 1 1/2 length victory in a trial to the El Primero Del Ano Derby on March 31. In both of those finals, Yanque broke slowly and was not able to repeat his trial effort. He did make a fantastic late run in the Winter Derby, as he moved up from 10th place to fifth place and eventually second at the wire in this humongous effort. Cesar De Alba will ride the mercurial gelding.

Other top runners in this trial include Abigail Kawananakoa's Chance To Fire, the PCQHRA 2-yea-old gelding of the year in 2017. The son of Walk Thru Fire is making his season debut and first start since running fourth in the Golden State Million. He was second to J Fire Up in the Governor's Cup Futurity last year and third to champion KVN Corona in the Ed Burke Million final. Multiple Grade 1 stakes finalist Ditto Head is another top name in this heat.

California Breeders Champions Night is Quarter Horse racing's version of California Cup Day. The all-stakes program is a potpourri of stakes races for all racing divisions. The Spencer Childers Championship Handicap for older horses and the Matron Stakes for distaffers are also part of the Champions Night card.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.