LOS ALAMITOS, CA—APRIL 24, 2019—Trials to the second richest running of the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity since 2008 will be contested on Sunday night at Los Alamitos. First post for the 10 races program is 5:50 p.m. with nine Kindergarten trials to be contested starting with the second race on the card.

A total of 71 2-year-olds will be in action in the 300-yard trials with the horses with the 10 fastest times advancing to the $362,300 final to be held here on Sunday, May 19.

Eleven of the 71 juveniles in the trials have already posted victories with the most impressive winners being Juan Humberto Moya’s homebred Diamond Rock, Ron Hartley’s Jess Rockin Cartel and J. Garvan Kelly’s Kid Around. Other winners to watch in the trials include Reliance Ranches’ Dreams Divine, J. Francisco Diaz’s Chayito Cartel and Whiting Ranch’s Lota Saturday, a winner at Remington Park on March 9 when qualifying to the $50,000 Oklahoma Futurity consolation stakes.

Diamond Rock was flawless in his debut, as he flew out of the starting gate on the way to an ultra-impressive 2 ¾ length victory on April 20. His winning time of :15.56 is also the fastest 300-yard time posted by any of the horses in these trials. Trained by Jose Flores, Diamond Rock will start from post five in the eighth race (trial number seven) on Sunday. To be ridden by Jairo Rangel, who piloted Diamond Rock in his debut, the son of Parsons Rock out of the Stel Corona mare Might She Go will take on a field that includes Adrian Rivera’s Hold The Flash, who also won her debut at Los Alamitos earlier this year. Hold The Flash is a half-sister to 2013 AQHA champion Matabari.

Cartel Jess Rockin impressed in her debut as well. The Favorite Cartel filly bumped at the start of her first outing, but she then put it all together in a huge way on the way to a 1 ½ length win in a time of :15.73 on April 19. Trainer John Cooper, who saddled One Proud Eagle to victory in the 2016 Kindergarten for Hartley, will give a leg up to Eddie Garcia aboard Cartel Jess Rockin in Sunday’s seventh race (trial number six). Garcia is this track’s all-time leading Quarter Horse jockey in wins. Eye Sixes Eagle, My Diamond Foose and Secretary Of Defense will also be part of this trial. All three of them posted runner-up efforts in their respective Los Alamitos debuts.

Kid Around did everything right in her debut, as left cleanly and pulled away from there in route to a length victory in a time of :15.79. The Kiddy Up is already looking like a bargain for Kelly after he purchased her for $9,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale last year. She now looks like one of the top contenders in the third race (trial number two) on Sunday. She’ll be taking on the Oklahoma invader Lota Saturday in this event.

There are three winners that will face off in the ninth race on the card (trial number eight) in Reliance Ranches LLC’s Invader, Jesus Avila’s Handsome TD and Fernando Flores’ Mister Tornado. Of the three, The Tempting Dash gelding Handsome TD posted the fastest winning time when debuting with a :15.67 clocking on April 13.

Invader, an Oklahoma-bred gelding by Tres Seis, scored the easiest win thanks to a ¾ length decision on April 12. Mister Tornado, a colt by Sports Cartel, broke fourth in his debut, but he quickly recovered on the way to a neck victory on April 20. This race is rather wide-open, as it’ll also feature Lady Lager, who enters after running second to the ultra-impressive winner Cartel Jess Rockin, and Foxys First Kiss, who had the bullet work of :12.30 on March 25 before posting a :12.90 clocking in a troubled work on April 9.

The opening trial on the card (race number two) will see Legacy Ranch LLC’s Baltas Babe making her debut after being scratched from a race last month. The homebred filly spiked a temperature in the days prior to that race according to trainer Terry Knight and the connections opted to give her all the time she needed to regain full health to be ready for this race. In morning works, Baltas Babe looked like a standout, posting a :12.20 work on March 30, the second fastest of 54 drills. She’ll be taking on Jeryl and Ron Hartley’s Chickititas Favorite, who ran a game second to Chayito Cartel in their debut on April 19.

Chayito Cartel, meanwhile, will be in action in the sixth race (trial number five) and he’ll face Double Bar S Ranch’s Scoop There It Is, who won her debut by a head on April 19. This race will also feature Corona Required, a colt by Corona Cartel, who was repurchased for $140,000 from the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. He races for breeders George and Ruben Villalobos.

Reliance Ranches’ Dreams Divine, who won the meet’s first race for 2-year-olds, returns to action in the 10th and final race on Sunday. Her rivals will include EG High Desert Farms’ El Angel Corona, who had a troubled journey in his debut, but still posted a solid second place finish.

In the two other Kindergarten trials, EG High Desert Farms’ Hawks Valentine, who should improve after a rough trip in his debut, will head the fourth race (trial number three), while Loose On Katella, Jessafamouslady and Mental Effort, all runner-ups in their debuts, will get together in the fifth race (trial number four).

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.