Racing


Mental Error Is Top Qualifier To PCQHRA Breeders Futurity
Mental Error, under jockey Ramon Sanchez, crushes the field with a two-length win in the PCQHRA Futurity(G2) trials Sunday at Los Alamitos.

© Scott Martinez
Mental Error Is Top Qualifier To PCQHRA Breeders Futurity

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—SEPTEMBER 15, 2019—On an evening headed by major Los Alamitos futurity winners Flokie, Pitbull, and Chayito Cartel in action it was Bobby Simmons' Mental Error who wound up as the star performer of the night after posting an awesome two length victory in his trial to the $355,000 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity here on Sunday night.

Ridden by Ramon Sanchez for trainer Paul Jones, Mental Error won the last of seven Ed Burke Million trials after covering the 350 yards in a time of :17.437. The Favorite Cartel colt's winning time was 1/5th of a second faster than second fastest qualifier Flokie, who less than an hour earlier had posted a daylight trial victory of his own and in the second fastest qualifying time of :17.659.

Ed Burke Million Futurity(G1) winner Flokie and jockey Jairo Rangel setting the second fastest qualifying time for the PCQHRA Futurity(G2). © Scott Martinez
Owned by J. Francisco Diaz and Jose Flores, Flokie entered the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity trials after winning the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity on June 23 over a field that included Mental Error. On that night, Mental Error broke in, bumped, and lugged out on the way to running fifth in the Ed Burke Million. However, there were no mistakes in Mental Error's game on this trial night.

"He ran a great race," Jones said of his charge. "He beat some really great horses by a long ways tonight. This was a tough group. He'd been one of my better 2-year-olds. He qualified to the Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity and the Ed Burke and now the Breeders. He's always been a nice horse. He's had a little break since the Ed Burke, freshened him up and came back strong. He had bit of a rough trip (in the Ed Burke), but tonight he did everything right. I'm just pleased and really happy for Bobby and Catherine Simmons. They're really great people and really happy to do well for them. It's a great moment right now."

Tell Cartel, under jockey Erasmo Gasca, qualifying in the forth trail on Sunday night. © Scott Martinez
Mental Error finished second to Chayito Cartel in the Kindergarten earlier this year before his fifth in the Ed Burke. He'll hope that the third time in a stakes race is the charm when Sanchez pilots him in the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity final on Saturday, October 5.

"Ramon in my opinion is one of the best," Jones said. "In money races, big races, he can get the job done. We've had a ton of success together and hopefully we will continue to have success together."

Up And Coming, under jockey Eduardo Nicasio, qualified in the opening trial for the PCQHRA Futurity at Los Alamitos.
© Scott Martinez
Bred by Dr. Steve Burns, Mental Error has won three of six career starts. He's finished in the money in five of those outings. In this trlal, Mental Error finished ahead of Ed Allred's Up for Speed and the Cesar Nunez-owned Governor's Cup Futurity winner Pitbull, a pair of juveniles that also qualified to the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity from this trial. Up For Speed finished as the fourth fastest qualifier, while Pitbull ended up as the fifth fastest.

Flokie was the second fastest qualifier following his 1 ¼ length trial victory with Jairo Rangel aboard for trainer Jose Flores. This trial race was delayed a few minutes due to the scratch of the filly Shez Divine, who acted up and eventually flipped back while in the starting gate. After the field was re-loaded following the scratch, Flokie broke sharply on the way to a 1 ¼ length win.

Sass Go Blue, under jockey Crus Medez, hits the wire first in the sixth trial on Sunday. © Scott Martinez
"It's been a long time since Flokie's ran," Flores said. "He didn't know what was up – he had never been through something like that. He hopped at the start and I was little bit worried. Once he kicked it into gear, he was pretty good job. He did his job like he knows how to do it."

Flokie improved to three wins from four starts. His last start was that Ed Burke Million win.

"He's been sound and strong. I hope it continues on that path because there's still one more race (Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity) for him after this race.

The top five fastest qualifiers were all sired by Favorite Cartel.

For the complete list of qualifiers to the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity including times, sires, dams, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys CLICK HERE.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.