Preview Racing


Wide Open Field Of 8 Face Off In Town Policy Handicap
AQHA Hall of Fame inductee Town Policy won 22 races, eight stakes and earned over $862,000.

ca. 1977
Wide Open Field Of 8 Face Off In Town Policy Handicap

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—NOVEMBER 5, 2020—Chayito Cartel and Sass Go Blue, a pair of Grade 2 futurity winners in 2019, will face off in search of their first stakes win of the year in the $25,000 Town Policy Handicap on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Eight horses will be in action in the Town Policy with each one of the potential starters having raced in a stakes race at least once in their respective careers.

J. Francisco Diaz’s Chayito Cartel had a great start to his racing career, winning each of his first three starts including a neck victory in the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten against the accomplished sprinter Mental Error and eventual inaugural Los Alamitos Oaks winner Dreams Divine.

The homebred sprinter has lost his last three outings and most recently had a very troubled journey when making his 2020 debut on September 12. With that nightmarish trip behind him, Chayito Cartel figures to improve in his second outing of the year. Raul Valenzuela will ride the Favorite Cartel gelding from post six.

Dr. Steve Burns and Antonio Flores’ Sass Go Blue won the Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity at odds of 28-1, winning this race over a field that included Tell Cartel, a Grade 1 derby winner this year and the fastest qualifier to the Los Alamitos Super Derby on Sunday night.

Sass Go Blue has made a couple of derbies this year and even won his trial to the El Primero Del Año Derby by 3/4 lengths. He was also very competitive in his last start, battling for the early lead in his trial to the Super Derby before lugging out steadily on the way to finishing third. Cruz Mendez, who knows this horse extremely well, will ride the Seperate Interest gelding for trainer Jose Flores.

Paul Penuelas or Valentin Zamudio’s Invader was claimed for $20,000 two races ago and in his first start for the new barn, the Tres Seis gelding had a tough journey, getting bump early and then having to alter racing lane at the midway point of his Super Derby trial.

Similarly to Chayito Cartel, Invader figures to have a better trip this time around and that makes him a horse to watch here. Ed Allred has a solid duo in the Town Policy in three-time stakes finalist Bono Is Good and Vandy’s Flash Handicap third place finisher Doctor Gene. Both horses are trained by Scott Willoughby.

Golden State Derby runner-up Long Time Favorite, the stakes placed Chocolate Divinity and Golden State finalist Spring Favorite will also race in the Town Policy.

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Town Policy (1975–1984) was a Quarter Horse racehorse, noted not only for his achievements on the racetrack, but for disappearing from his stall in 1977 and being recovered five months later in Mexico.

At the peak of Town Policy’s career, and only five days after winning the 1977 Fresno Futurity, he was stolen from his stall at trainer Blane Schvaneveldt’s barn in Stanton, California.

Owner-breeder Ivan Ashment offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to the horse's return. Most rumors pointed to Mexico, where Quarter Horse match racing was very popular. Five months later and 150 pounds lighter, the little bay gelding was found in a Mexico cornfield.

Barely 10 weeks after that, Town Policy won the Los Alamitos Derby, the West Coast’s most competitive Quarter Horse race for 3-year-olds. The gelding beat the field by 2 ½ lengths and set a track record of :21.60.

He won 22 races, including eight stakes races, from 64 starts, and earned in excess of $862,000. He is the only horse to sweep Los Alamitos’ three major divisional races – the Kindergarten Futurity, Los Alamitos Derby and Vessels Maturity – in consecutive years.

He broke his shoulder in an allowance race on January 3, 1984 and was buried in the infield of Los Alamitos Race Course the next day. Town Policy was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1998.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.