LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JANAURY 26, 2012—Champions Jess You And I, Noconi and Little Bit Of Baja, a trio of venerable Grade 1 winners with a combined record of 36 wins from 88 starts and earnings of $3,934,414, will headline the trials to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Championship to be held on Sunday night. Ramon Sanchez has the pleasure of riding these three historic horses. First post time is 5 p.m. (PST).

Twenty-eight runners will compete in four trial divisions with the horses with the 10 fastest times advancing to the Winter Championship final on Sunday, February 19. The winner of the Grade 1 final will earn the first starting berth to the 2012 $750,000 Champion of Champions.

Jess You And I needs no introduction to Quarter Horse racing fans. The now 8-year-old gelding is one of the great competitors in the history of this sport, having won the Champion of Champions, Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship, Golden State Million Futurity and several other major Grade 1 stakes races at Los Alamitos.

The son of Feature Mr Jess has also competed in the Champion of Champions an impressive four times, including a win in the 2008 running and fourth place finishes in each of the last two years. Jess You And I, who at over $1.8 million, is one of the richest Quarter Horses ever will be saddled by Paul Jones and ridden by Ramon Sanchez in the first of four trials.

Jones will also saddle the 7-year-old Noconi for R.D. Hubbard, John T.L. Jones in his comeback outing at Los Alamitos. The son of Mr Jess Perry was fifth to Jess You And I in the ’08 Champion of Champions, but he’s enjoyed countless of great victories in New Mexico over his career. A winner of the All American Gold Cup at Ruidoso Downs, Zia Park Championship and The Championship at Sunland Park, Noconi’s lifetime earnings stand at $1,275,533 to make him one of the richest active sprinters in Quarter Horse racing. Sanchez jumps from one legend (Jess You And I) to another one in Noconi for the second trial.

Racing for Vessels Stallion Farm and Los Bustardos, the 8-year-old Little Bit Of Baja has three Champion of Champions appearances under his belt, including a pair of second place finishes. After being the runner-up to World Champion Blues Girl Too in 2007, the First Down Dash gelding was second to Jess You And I in ’08. Little Bit Of Baja, who has made over $850,000, will be making his first start since December 2009. The winner of the 2007 Los Alamitos Super Derby, Little Bit Of Baja had the stem cell surgery, similar to the one that Be A Bono made famous in the mid-2000s. Sanchez will be in the irons aboard Little Bit Of Baja in the fourth and final trial.

Prior to that heat, the third trial will pit 2011 Champion of Champions runner-up Sparky E Boy, who just missed winning the 440-yard classic by a nose at 26-1 odds, plus Vessels Maturity and Go Man Go Handicap winner Snitcher. All eyes, however, will be on Brad Lohr and Daniel Reynoso’s Senor Toby, as the budding superstar by Mighty Invictus will make his first start of the season after enjoying a remarkable and undefeated six-race campaign in 2011.

Other big names competing in the trials include 2012 Charger Bar Handicap winner Dash Back Perry and last year’s Southern California Derby winner El Aguila Real, El Primero Del Ano Derby winner PK Fire and PCQHRA Breeders Derby winner Onemoreglassofwine.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com