Undefeated CV Fdddinasty Shan held off a late surge by Faultless to score a nose victory in the Grade 1, $960,000 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity on Sunday night.

© William Zuazo

By Orlando Gutierrez

CYPRESS, CA–JUNE 21, 2026– The script could not have been written any better for a Father's Day celebration at Los Alamitos Race Course. On a night dedicated to fathers, the family duo of owner J. Francisco Diaz and his 38-year-old son, trainer Lindolfo Diaz, secured a rich victory they will cherish forever.

Showing top quality from the center of the track, the undefeated sorrel gelding CV Fdddinasty Shan held off a furious late surge by Ed Allred’s Faultless to score a nose victory in the Grade 1, $960,000 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity on Sunday night.

The victory marked the richest career win for both trainer Lindolfo Diaz and 24-year-old jockey Armando Viramontes. It also preserved a flawless record for CV Fdddinasty Shan, who extended his slate to a perfect three wins from three starts while asserting himself as the premier juvenile on the grounds.

Sent off at odds of 7-1 from post position four, CV Fdddinasty Shan faced adversity right out of the starting gate. When the gates popped, the field of eight juveniles—reduced by the late scratches of Dulce Luchadora and Flying Sin Tacha—took off in chase of big money in the 350-yard sprint.

CV Fdddinasty Shan was fast out of the gate, but he did break inward and bumped at the start. Despite the early contact, the son of FDD Dynasty accelerated to assume a half-length advantage over his rivals. Under steady guidance by Viramontes, he maintained a narrow cushion at the midway point. As the wire loomed, the Allred homebred Faultless, breaking cleanly from post six under Gabriel Lara, mounted a menacing rally on the outside. Simultaneously, second-fastest qualifier Nuclear Arsenal challenged valiantly from the inside rail under Eduardo Nicasio, despite drifting out an eighth of a mile into the race.

In a breathless finish, CV Fdddinasty Shan dug deep to hit the wire in a winning time of :17.608, holding off the Scott Willoughby-trained Faultless by the slimmest of margins to win. Dale Winterton’s Nuclear Arsenal finished a game third for trainer Paul Jones, while fastest qualifier Zionsville bobbled at the start and crossed the wire fourth.

CV Fdddinasty Shan’s winning connection. © William Zuazo

The massive $386,400 winner's share of the purse catapulted CV Fdddinasty Shan into the spotlight as the leading money earner of the current Los Alamitos meet. He now has a total bankroll of $393,870.

A Bittersweet Morning Turns into the Best Father's Day Gift

For Lindolfo Diaz, who qualified a trio of runners to the Ed Burke for his dad, the emotional roller coaster of this million-dollar race day began with a difficult phone call to his father.

“I talked to my dad early in the morning and first thing I had to give him was bad news because we were going to scratch Dulce Luchadora," Lindolfo Diaz said. "I told him that, but he said, ‘at least we have two more shots at it.’”

In addition to the winner, Diaz also saddled Flying Dynasty 123, who finished in fifth place.

“They were both doing really good and even Dulce Luchadora was doing good,” Diaz said. “We were just unlucky that she couldn’t run in the final. The other horses in the barn made up for it."

The elder Diaz was unable to attend the races in person, adding an extra layer of emotion to the winner's circle celebration. "I wish (my dad) could have made it but he got a little sick, but he sure was watching the race," Lindolfo revealed. "I talked to him on the phone just now and he was happy, extremely happy and said that he wished he could have been here. My mom and my sisters were home with him so they’re enjoying this with him in Chula Vista."

Reflecting on the moment, the trainer was moved by what the achievement represented. “This is special. There are no words. That man, I wouldn’t be here, if not for him. It’s the best feeling in the world and the best Father’s Day I can give him."

"You know, I started late with the horses, maybe as a teenager. I wasn’t young, young, and even though I had always been around horses, it was not with the racehorses when I was a teenager. Then when I got into this game, I started to help (trainer) Jose Flores, and that’s when I fell in love with the game. I told my dad that this is what I want to do and he said, ‘I got your back as long as I’m around.’"

The victory will also shine a deserving spotlight on Diaz’s small but always productive stable of Quarter Horses. “Right now, this is probably the biggest win of my career,” said the trainer, who has accumulated 228 victories from 1,014 Quarter Horse starters. “We’re a small barn. We don’t have that many horses, but we try our hardest. We have 12 horses right now. This horse, he’s maintained his (soundness) and that’s the key. He’s super tight. I’ve never had to touch anything in the front."

The win also serves as sweet redemption after a difficult 2025 campaign.

“Last year, we didn’t have as good a stock to be honest," Diaz admitted. "I bought one good horse at the Ruidoso Sale last year and then we had a Favorite Cartel that my dad and I bred that we loved. Unfortunately, we lost one of them and the other one got sick on us and didn’t pan out for us. Those two I thought were going to be my top dogs last year and we just got unlucky, but with another year, it’s a different story.”

A Homegrown Jockey with a Million-Dollar Moment

Jockey Armando Viramontes, who chose to ride CV Fdddinasty Shan over other options in the final, felt pure joy as he crossed the finish line.

“At the wire I thought, ‘I won, I won,’" Viramontes said. "The horse did his job and from the start he broke in front and stayed strong the whole way. The three times I’ve been on him; he’s won all three starts. He’s an honest horse with a big heart. This horse has done right from day one and he’s a champion. He broke really well. He broke in front and never stopped. I felt like we got a little bump to the inside and we got knocked to the side a little bit, but the horse did his job from there. I chose this horse because I wanted to go three for three with him. Thankfully he’s stayed unbeaten. I felt the outside horse (Faultless) at the end and then after the wire, but I felt pretty sure that I had won it.”

For the 24-year-old pilot, the Ed Burke brought back a lot of memories of his young life at Los Alamitos. “On the backside after the race, it was so surreal,” Viramontes said. “I had no feeling. I had no emotions because I just felt so amazing. I grew up at this track. My family has had horses here forever. This is home for me."

After the winner’s circle snapshot, Viramontes hopped off CV Fdddinasty Shan and immediately went to find his mother to give her a big hug. “It’s crazy, it’s crazy, my mom probably remembers (watching over me) there in the bleachers while my family was running horses back then. I used to race against the horses right there when I was a baby as they would come out the gate.”

Sire and Dam Lineage

Bred in Mexico by Jga Racing Stables Inc., CV Fdddinasty Shan’s victory in the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity mirrors the feat accomplished exactly 20 years ago by his great sire, the stallion FDD Dynasty, who won the 2006 renewal of this very race. Following an outstanding championship racing career, FDD Dynasty embarked on a stallion career which has seen him become one of the nation’s top Quarter Horse sires.

CV Fdddinasty Shan is out of the Mr Jess Perry mare Shangrilalala. She was a solid performer on the track, hitting the board in six of her seven career starts and finishing fourth in the 2017 Grade 3 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity while accumulating $37,807 in career earnings.

Faultless, who earned $156,400 for running second, was also sired by a former Ed Burke winner—the 2021 champion Golden Boi. The colt is out of the TR Dasher mare Without Fault, who won twice in four career starts.

Trained by Paul Jones, Nuclear Arsenal earned $110,400 for running third. Bred by Bobby Cox, the colt is by Inspyre and out of the outstanding, five-time stakes-winning mare Thermonuclear Energy. Zionsville, Flying Dynasty 123, Friend Indeed, MP Jess Rockin, and Call Me Candela completed the official order of finish.

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