LOS ALAMITOS, CA—NOVEMBER 23, 2016— Multiple major stakes winning fillies Little Talks and Jess Good Reason will be joined by four Los Alamitos Super Derby finalists and three recent stakes winners in the trials to the Grade 2, $168,500 Southern California Derby on Sunday at Los Alamitos. First post is 5 p.m.

Four trials will be contested at 400 yards with a total of 34 sophomores vying for one of the 10 berths to the Southern California Derby final to be held here on the meet’s closing night, Sunday, December 18. The horses with the 10 fastest times will earn the qualifying spots. The four derby trials will make up what promises to be an outstanding Late Pick 4 sequence on Sunday night.

The opening trial will feature Spackman Racing’s Time For Jess and S-Quarter K’s Ima Fearless Hero, the third and fourth place finishers to the $768,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby. Time For Jess finished only behind Big Lew and Rite Regal in the Grade 1 final. The Apollitical Jess filly has had a strong year, as she won the Adequan California Derby Challenge in mid-August and was second in the Miss Princess Handicap in mid-May. Carlos Huerta will ride the filly for trainer Lin Melton.

Trained by Jose Flores, the millionaire Ima Fearless Hero will start from post number one in this trial. The son of Valiant Hero stumbled leaving the gate in the Super Derby, but rallied nicely to finish second. Lightly raced after undergoing surgery earlier this year, Ima Fearless Hero will be making only his fifth start of the year. Cruz Mendez will pilot last year’s champion 2-year-old gelding and winner of the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

The field will also feature Ed Allred’s Nymph, a four-time stakes winner in her career for trainer Scott Willoughby. Nymph took on the top older mares in the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap and finished sixth, but she’s been outstanding for most of the year. She won the Emma Bug Handicap and California Breeders Debutante and will come into this race after winning the Newport Beach Handicap.

The second division will feature Dr. Steve Burns’ Little Talks, the winner of the PCQHRA Breeders Derby this year and the Golden State Million Futurity last year. The Favorite Cartel filly faced older foes in her last start when running fourth a division to the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials. She just missed qualifying to the Champion of Champions for trainer Mike Casselman.

Paul Jones and Thompson Racing, Inc’s Flay, which was also sired by the outstanding Favorite Cartel, will start from post number one in this race. Flay beat older horses in the Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap and enters this race after running in the Los Alamitos Super Derby. Oscar Peinado will pilot the Jones-trainee.

Stevie B First Cash and Kickin Seis, both recent stakes winners at Los Alamitos, will also race in this trial. Owned by Two Feathers Series LLC, Stevie B First Cash cruised to a half-length victory in the Town Policy Handicap on November 5. His 2016 campaign has also included a win in the $100,000 All American Derby Consolation Stakes at Ruidoso Downs and a third against World Champion Heza Dasha Fire in the Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship.

Jose Flores and George Seward’s Kickin Seis won the Fall For It Handicap in her only outing of the year. She was an allowance winner in her final start of 2015.

Flores will saddle two top contenders in the third trial in the form of Los Alamitos Super Derby finalist Jess A Pollitician and Town Policy Handicap runner-up We Like Corona. The field will also feature Allred’s Sale Topper and Parsons Family Limited Partnership’s Thermonuclear Energy, a pair of talented sophomores with a combined seven major stakes finals since July of 2015.

The fourth and final trial will be headed by Cina and John Sperry’s Jess Good Reason, the winner of the La Primera Del Ano Derby and most recently the $202,000 Adequan Derby Challenge final at Los Alamitos. The mercurial filly has won six races and finished second in five other of her 14 career outings.

Paul Jones will saddle the lifetime winner of $276,982. Oscar Peinado will ride the Good Reason SA filly. EG High Desert Farms’ Unclaimed Dividend, the Governor’s Cup Derby winner, plus Mark and Peggy Brown’s Timely Delivery and Dr. Burns’ You Can Fly are among the other top names in this trial.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.