LOS ALAMITOS, CA—OCTOBER 18, 2018—AQHA champions J Fire Up and KVN Corona will be joined by 2018 derby winners Jesstacartel, A Political Lady, Jess My Kiss, Moonie Blues and Black Fryday as part of an outstanding group of sophomores heading the trials to the 65th running of the Grade 1, $925,100 Los Alamitos Super Derby here on Saturday night.

A total of 34 runners will be in action in the Super Derby trials at 400 yards with the horses with the 10 fastest times moving on to the final on Sunday, November 11. This year’s final will be the richest Super Derby since 2012 and the fifth richest running in the event’s history.

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

Darling Farms, Jaime Gomez and Ernesto Solis’ J Fire Up and Keith Nellesen’s KVN Corona dominated the futurities at Los Alamitos in 2017 with J Fire Up winning the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity and Governor’s Cup Futurity, while KVN Corona won the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity and the Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity. The two superstars will be the big names in the first two of four trials on the night.

J Fire Up is a perfect two for two in derby trials this year and will now look for her third trial win when she starts from post number one in the opening derby trial, which is slated as the sixth race on the Saturday card.

The Kiddy Up filly won the Two Million and Governor’s Cup from the rail last year. She’ll enter this race after running third to Moonie Blues in the Grade 3 PCQHRA Breeders Derby on October 16. Jose Nicasio will ride J Fire Up for Gomez, who trains and also bred the champion filly.

The opening trial will also feature Grade 2 Golden State Derby winner Jesstacartel and Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby winner Jess My Kiss. Both are by multiple stakes sire One Sweet Jess.

Owned and bred by Lesley Joyner, Jesstacartel showed his late running prowess when he opened up to win the Golden State Derby by a half-length on August 19. Cruz Mendez will ride the winner of six races in eight starts for trainer Mark Skeen. Mark and Peggy Brown’s Jess My Kiss upset a strong field to win the Winter Derby at 24-1 odds, but has not finished in the top three in his five starts since that big win. Rodrigo Aceves will pilot the One Sweet Jess gelding for trainer Roman Figueroa.

KVN Corona won the Grade 3 El Primero Del Ano Derby here earlier this season and in unbeaten in eight career starts at Los Alamitos. The 2-year-old Corona Cartel champion colt last year, KVN Corona lost two starts at Ruidoso Downs in the summer, which are his only losses in 11 career starts. To be ridden by Ramon Sanchez for trainer Paul Jones, KVN Corona will start from the outside post eight in the second trial.

He’ll be facing a great field that also includes Parsons Ranch’s Grade 3 La Primera Del Ano Derby winner A Political Lady, who at one point this season had a six-race winning streak; EG High Desert Farms’ Matilda Czech, winner of Girl Secrets Handicap on September 14 and the runner-up in the Golden State Million; and Reliance Ranches LLC’s Call Me Cole, the third place finisher in the Los Alamitos Two Million.

The first two trials also feature four of the five runners that made the late payment of $30,000 each to become eligible to these trials. J Fire Up and Jesstacartel made the late payment as did A Political Lady and Matilda Czech.

The fifth horse to make the late payment is Martha Wells’ Yanque, the runner-up in the Winter Derby. He’ll be in action in the third trial of the night (race number 8) against Abigail Kawananakoa’s Chance To Fire, who has run second in the Governors’ Cup and PCQHRA Breeders derbies this season and second in the Governor’s Cup Futurity last year. He was also third to KVN Corona in the Ed Burke Million and fourth to J Fire Up in the Golden State Million last year. Chance To Fire has hit the board in 10 of 11 career starts.

The final derby trial will feature Lisa Anderson’s superstar filly Moonie Blues, who enters this race after one of her best ever efforts when winning the PCQHRA Breeders Derby final two weeks ago.

Moonie Blues beat Chance To Fire and J Fire Up in that final and she had previously run third in three separate derbies. The Intermountain Horse of the Year at Los Alamitos last year, the Anderson-bred runner won the Wild West Futurity and was second in the Los Alamitos. She is by multiple stakes sire Freighttrain B.

This trial will also feature Ron Hartley’s Black Fryday, who won the Governor’s Cup Derby by daylight at 10-1 odds in late July. He also finished fourth in the PCQHRA Breeders Derby in his last outing. Jose Flores and Steve Mickaelian’s Apollitical Stone, the runner-up in the Golden State Derby, will start from post six in this race.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.