Preview Racing


Twenty-Five To Race In Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby Trials On Saturday
Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity winner Chicks First Flash is among 25 sophomores in the trials to the Grade 1, $183,350 Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Saturday night.

© William Zuazo
Twenty-Five To Race In Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby Trials On Saturday

LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JANUARY 26, 2023—Five Livestock Company LLC and Steve Wright’s Chicks First Flash, the winner of the Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity, will be joined by Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity finalists Hay Shaker and Good Wagon SA to headline a great cast of 25 sophomores in the trials to the Grade 1, $183,350 Los Alamitos Winter Derby  on Saturday night. 

The 10-race card will start at 6 p.m.

Three 400-yard trials will be contested with the horses with the 10 fastest times advancing to the first Grade 1 derby of the year on Saturday, February 18. Chicks First Flash is the richest horse in the field following a terrific juvenile campaign in which he won four of seven starts for earnings of $214,987.

Trained by Monty Arrossa, the son of First Moonflash hit the board in every single one of his starts last year and enters this race after nice rest, as his last start was a 1/2 length victory in the PCQHRABreeders Futurity on October 2. Ahalf-brother to stakes winner Chicks Dashin Bandit, Chicks First Flash was bred by Five Livestock in Idaho. Armando Cervantes will pilot him in the final race on the card.    

Alfredo Alonzo and Luciano and Robert Martinez’s Hay Shaker qualified to both the Golden State Million Futurity and Two Million after being claimed for $12,500 out of the Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity. The Paul Jones and Terry Thompson-bred son of Favorite Cartel finished the year with four wins and $126,672 in earnings.

Trained by Jaime Gomez, Hay Shaker will be in action in the opening trial, which is the eighth race on the card. Oscar Peinado will ride.    

Owned by J. Francisco Diaz and trained by his son, Lindolfo, Good Wagon Sa ran a solid sixth in the Two Million final. The son of the champion Good Reason Sa won two of his five starts last year while also running second to AQHA2-year-old champion colt Cyber Attack in their Two Million trial.

Cyber Attack went on to win the Two Million final. Jesus Rios Ayala will ride Good Wagon Sa in the first trial.

The second trial will include Dunn Ranch’s Take A Swig Of This, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Heritage Place Futurity at Remington Park last spring. Trained by Monty Arrossa, the A Revenant gelding will be making his second local start.

A total of 25 sophomores will race in the Winter Derby trials.

In addition to Hay Shaker, the  opening heat will also feature Jeryl Hartley’s Hes Chickless, a five-time winner during his juvenile campaign, which included the Ah Sigh Handicap and a runner-up effort in the Fred Scane Stakes, and  Dunn Ranch’s Ghost With a Fire, an impressive trial winner to the Golden State Million Futurity who also posted solid efforts at Ruidoso Downs.

Other top runners in the opening trial include Bradbury Racing’s Dont Sass KVN, who was second in the Holiday Handicap in his most recent start, and Ed Allred’s Space Flight, who won the California Breeders Freshman Stakes and enters this event after running a strong third in an allowance event.

In the second trial, the father and son owner/trainer team of J. Francisco Diaz and Lindolfo Diaz will be represented by the Five Bar Cartel gelding One Sweet Bar, who qualified to three futurities last year, including the PCQHRABreeders Futurity.

Other runners in this heat will include Ronnie Brooks Keller’s Normandy, who was second in the Bitterroot Futurity last summer, and Ed Allred and Brad Hart’s Pragmatic, twice a winner here last year and a participant in the Los Alamitos Juvenile Invitational.

Chicks First Flash’s top rivals in the third and final heat will include Vences Racing’s Muy Bien Corona, who was third in the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity, and Ruse Racing’s Apollitical Dynamite, who has been solid in his last two outings here, including a third in the Los Alamitos Juvenile. The son of Apollitical Dynamite won the $131,00 Juvenile Challenge at Sam Houston last June.

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For more info, please contact larace@losalamitos.com.  Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.