LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JULY 13, 2019—Full brothers Pitbull and Lebowski, will be partying together on California Breeders Champions Night on July 27 after they each posted successful qualifying victories in the 350-yard trials to the $365,000 Governor's Cup Futurity on Saturday at Los Alamitos Race Course.

The talented stablemates were both ridden by Ruben Lozano in their respective trial wins and were saddled by Valentin Zamudio. The trainer sent Cesar Nunez's Pitbull to his second victory in as many starts, this one an impressive 1-¼ length romp in the fastest time of the night of :17.671 in the third trial.

Zamudio then saddled Cream Of The Crop Inc.'s Lebowski to a neck victory in the fifth heat with the gelding posting the eighth fastest time of :17.823. Bred by Dr. Steve Burns, Pitbull and Lebowski were sired by Favorite Cartel and are out of the top mare Separate Tac, who finished second to champion Strawfins in the 2006 Grade 1 Rainbow Derby. Separate Tac has produced many talented runners, including the stakes winning mare Attack The Cartel and the stakes placed mare Tac Out.

With the full brothers leading the way, the horses with the 10 fastest times in the trials will advance to the Governor's Cup final.

CLICK HERE for a complete list of Governor's Cup Futurity qualifiers, times, sires, dams, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys.

A shake between the two will be held on Sunday afternoon to decide the final qualifying spot to the Governor's Cup. Eight out of the top nine qualifiers to the Governor's Cup Futurity were sired by Favorite Cartel, including the top six.

Leading stallion Favorite Cartel sired five of the seven trial winners and eight of the 10 qualifiers to the Governor's Cup Futurity.

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Following a pair of very impressive workouts, Pitbull won his career debut by ¾ lengths at 300 yards on June 1. The race set him up perfectly for this trial outing, as he left nicely from post number three to quickly open up a ¾ length advantage over his rivals. Pitbull was a fireball the rest of the way, pulling away from his rivals with every stride.

"I'm very fortunate to train this horse and have him in my barn," Zamudio said. "He's responded to the work we've done with him and we hope to do well in the final. We've taken our time with him and did not push him early in the year. We still have a lot of races left in the year and we want him to be strong for the rest of the year. The horse is still improving and getting better. The experience will keep helping him."

Both Pitbull and Lebowski are graduates of the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. Pitbull was purchased for $40,000, while Lebowski was sold for $28,000.

Rosenthal Ranch LLC's Runforyourlife, a full brother to 2018 Governor's Cup Futurity winner Powerful Favorite, posted the second fastest qualifying time of :17.684 after winning the final trial by 1 ¼ lengths. Sent off at 5-1 odds, Runforyourlife has now won his last two outings after finishing eighth and seventh in his first two career starts.

"It's kind of been a long time coming," trainer Chris O'Dell said. "We did so many things with the horse. We changed so many things with the horse. We castrated him, we took the blinkers off, and we did a lot of things. We thought he had some talent, but the first two times I ran him he ran so badly. As soon as we took the blinkers off the light came on. We knew it was there all along, we just had to find it. That's our job, trying to figure those things out. What a relief to see him run such a good time tonight."

O'Dell purchased Runforyourlife for $100,000 at the Ruidoso Yearling Sale last year.

"When I first saw him at the Ruidoso Sale last year, I called Connie Rosenthal and I said there's one here that we have to have.' She said, 'who is it?' I told her it was a full brother (to Powerful Favorite). Some people don't like to go back to the well, but I told her that this is a nice horse and she took my word for it and let me spend $100,000. When I ran him the first two times we all had our head down, but to see him come with these last two races it's been very fulfilling. We're really blessed."

Link Newcomb's Cattail Cove won his trial in wire-to-wire fashion, crossing the wire ¾ lengths ahead of fourth fastest qualifier A Mere Felix. Purchased for $62,000 at Ruidoso Yearling Sale, Cattail Cove entered this race after a very troubled second place finish in his debut here on June 29. Juan Aleman saddled the brown gelding, who was ridden to victory by Carlos Huerta.

"We've been really high on him since he was a baby," Newcomb said. "I bought him at the Ruidoso Sale and I had two of his brothers. I knew the family. I had Kickin Your Can, who had run well for me a couple of years ago and this is his half-brother by Favorite Cartel. He had a little setback early so we had to be careful with him. He's the only horse I've had that had two solo works as a 2-year-old. We didn't work him with company at the time because we were being really careful with him. He let it go tonight. He had gotten bumped around a bunch in his first race and since he had not worked with company he ran a little green that first time. He ran very professional tonight."

EG High Desert Farms' A Mere Felix will look to be the next standout produced by the mare A Mere Classic. Her foals have included 2008 Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby winner A Mere Chocolate, 2007 Vandy's Flash Handicap and 2010 First Down Dash Handicap winner A Mere Splash, and 2003 Los Alamitos Derby finalist A Mere Special.

Jonathan Roman piloted the colt for trainer Jesus Nunez. EG High Desert Farms and Nunez will also be represented by Max My Bullets, the only runner in the top nine not sired by Favorite Cartel. A filly by Corona Czech, Max My Bullets broke her maiden by winning the sixth trial of the night. She was ridden by Luis Sandoval Ramirez.

Ed Allred's Up For Speed finished with the fifth fastest time after winning his trial by ¾ lengths with Vinnie Bednar up for trainer Scott Willoughby. Up For Speed was bumped from both sides early on, but he shook off the trouble to win for the first time in two career starts. The gelding is out of Allred's Up For It, who won the Governor's Cup Futurity in 2013. The trio of Allred, Willoughby, and Bednar also teamed up to qualify Bono Is Good, a gelding out of the Bono Jazz mare Sables Bono.

Ron Hartley's Cartel Jess Rockin, the fourth place finisher in the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity, qualified with the ninth fastest time after running second to Lebowski in the fifth trial. She's the only horse in the Governor's Cup final with previous experience in a stakes final.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.