A full night of trials to one of Los Alamitos' richest races, the Grade 1 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity, headlines a stacked card of Quarter Horse racing here on Sunday night.

© Los Alamitos

By Orlando Gutierrez

CYPRESS, CA–MAY 29, 2026–A full night of trials to one of Los Alamitos' richest races, the Grade 1 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity, headlines a stacked card of Quarter Horse racing here on Sunday night. A total of 108 juveniles has been entered in the 350-yard heats, with the 10 fastest qualifiers advancing to the $960,000 final, to be held here on Father's Day, Sunday, June 14.

The Ed Burke trial night will consist of 12 races with nine horses per trial. There will be three Pick Four wagering opportunities starting in races 1, 5, and 9. The Early and Late Pick Four pools are expected to clear the $150,000 mark, while the middle Pick Four should surpass $90,000. First post for the 12-race program is 5:35 p.m.

The on-track success already achieved by these juveniles underscores the depth of quality from top to bottom in these trials. Of the 108 participants, 33 have already made at least one visit to the winner's circle this season, and 74 have finished third or better at least once. In trials five and 12, eight of the nine runners have already hit the board.

Top names in the trials include Miguel Osorio's homebred Call Me Candela, winner of the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity, and Miguel Chavez and Jose Santos' Contentious, the unbeaten filly who posted the fastest qualifying time to the Kindergarten Futurity. Kolleen Ledgerwood's Blackk Maggic, who enjoyed a 1 1/4-length victory in her racing debut, and Thompson Racing, Inc. and Korry Trapp's Jessonefamouseagle, who posted a 3/4-length win in a sizzling time of :15.49 in his first start, are among the other first-time trialists expected to attract plenty of attention. Blackk Maggic has drawn into one of the strongest trials of the night; she'll see action in the 12th heat, one of two trials featuring eight previous top three finishers.

Placing a spotlight on each individual race continues to show the overall depth of this freshman group. The opening heat is headed by three winners, led by Ed Allred's Zionsville, a gelding from the family of Remember Me Rose purchased for $120,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. Zionsville is a son of Mpshinning, who sired last year's top Ed Burke qualifier, Shiny New. Zionsville won his lone start by a neck on May 2, defeating a strong group while leaving plenty of room for improvement. Brad and Robin Hart's RR Gotta Run, a colt by Apollitical Jess purchased for $100,000 at the Equine Sale, and Rancho El Cabresto's homebred AJ Majesty are the other two contenders with winning experience under their belts. Flying Dynasty 123, who finished third to Zionsville in their respective debuts, will start from the outside post nine looking to avenge that effort.

The second trial is a highly competitive contest featuring seven in-the-money finishers. Contentious will look for her third victory in as many starts when she leads this field from post seven. The Favorite Cartel filly won her debut in tremendous form, leading gate-to-wire to post a 1 1/2-length victory at 220 yards. She then showed her grit and determination in the Kindergarten trials, winning her heat by a half-length despite encountering trouble at the start. She posted the fastest qualifying time in the process before being a stakes scratch from the final. Ed Allred's College Boy, EG High Desert Farms' Boss Leyend, and the partnership of Jose Flores, Santos Montemayor, and Omar Torres' Safety Up all won their respective debuts and are ready to give Contentious a major challenge.

Kindergarten winner Call Me Candela is the marquee name in the third trial. The filly by Call Me Cole was highly impressive in her Kindergarten trial win and followed it up with a masterful performance in the final, where 20-year-old pilot Jose Rosario Alcala rode the race of his young career from post eight. Call Me Candela won her Kindergarten trial from the rail, and she'll break from that same inside post on Sunday. The Juan Aleman-trained Talk To Yourself, owned by Tommy Neal, Todd Neff, and Dylan and Cody Burns, is the other previous winner in this event. Allred's Unusual, a full brother to Contentious, is also in the lineup and looks for his first career victory after running second in his debut. The early Pick Four sequence wraps up in race four, where Rancho El Cabresto's Train Of Gold B, who delivered a powerful 3/4-length win on April 26, locks horns with Ricardo Ramirez's RR El Cholo, a hard-fought nose winner on May 16. RR El Cholo had a very troubled trip in his debut, making it easy to toss out his third-place finish.

The races that make up the middle Pick Four appear to be much wider open. Race five will feature winners from the barns of James Glenn, Jr., Eddie Willis, and James J. Gonzales II. Glenn will saddle Allred's Still Standing, a half-sister to trial one starter Zionsville. Still Standing showed sharp late speed in her debut, winning by a half-length at 300 yards in :15.67. Willis will send out the filly BV Party Time, a $41,000 purchase at the Ruidoso Sale, for owners Melany and Ron Shalz. She won her second career start at Los Alamitos on April 25 in :15.71. Gonzales will saddle Kim Middleton's Just Try Me, a debut winner by 3/4 of a length at 220 yards. This field also features Kindergarten finalist Romoland, who is still seeking his maiden win despite three solid efforts, including a fourth-place finish to Call Me Candela in the Grade 2 final.

Parsons Ranch's Daddy Curl and Larry and Bobbie Rice's Jessys Dynasty have both found the winner's circle heading into trial six, but Keith Nellesen's royally bred Think Think Think could be primed for a massive effort after a strong finish to her debut on May 9. Trained by Kristen Watanabe, the Utah-bred filly by Corona Cartel is a half-sister to Grade 1 Los Alamitos Oaks winner Beuteeful. Think Think Think was sixth at the break of her debut before flying late to finish second to RR Gotta Run.

Race seven is tracking as one of the night's deepest trials, boasting six winners among the nine starters. The headline name is Jose Moreno's Bridgewater, a filly by Mpshinning who won her debut by daylight before running second to Contentious in their Kindergarten trial. Bridgewater finished with the second-fastest overall Kindergarten clocking. The other winners in this stakes-quality field are Friend Indeed, Nuclear Arsenal, Daybreak, Indiana Fever, and Standing With Pride. Dale Winterton's Nuclear Arsenal won his debut impressively but ducked in at the gap after a solid start in his second outing, settling for fourth against a strong field that featured now two-time winner Zora V, Jessys Dynasty, and Boss Leyend. All three of those runners are back in action on Sunday night.

The middle Pick Four sequence wraps up with Valeriano Racing's Zora V, who has strung together a pair of victories after running fourth to Bridgewater in her debut. A daughter of Favorite Cartel out of the outstanding stakes producer Moonlight Corona, Zora V was purchased for $140,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. Her star-studded siblings include 2025 Los Alamitos Super Derby winner Norco, Grade 1 winner Circle City, and Grade 2 winner Nomadic. Larry and Bobbie Rice's AJ Your Favorite will also look to add a second victory to her resume when she lines up in this trial.

The final Pick Four begins in the ninth race, and the sequence highlights the return of impressive debut winners Jessonefamouseagle and Blackk Maggic. The Late Pick Four kicks off with a field led by Steve Burns' Lonely At Night, whose victory on May 16 triggered a massive Pick 6 payout here of over $150,000. Lonely At Night represents the famous breeding cross of Favorite Cartel and Remember Me Rose, making her a full sister to AQHA champion colts Cyber Attack and Enforce. While Lonely At Night is the lone previous winner in the ninth race, the event features dangerous maiden runners-up High Resolve, owned by Gamaliel Garza Garcia, and Rancho El Cabresto's AJ Million Sign.

Another heavyweight battle is set for the 10th trial, with Saul Acosta and Juan Moya's Test Pilot and EG High Desert Farms' Favorite Consent leading the charge following their respective maiden wins. Favorite Consent is one of Enrique Gonzalez's top juveniles this season and represents one of his brightest hopes to win this race for the second consecutive year following Jess Im Worth It's victory in 2025.

In the 11th trial, the Paul Jones-trained Jessonefamouseagle enters with high expectations. She showed plenty of promise in her morning drills but exceeded them in her debut, winning comfortably while posting the fastest 300-yard time by a juvenile this season (:15.49) with Henry Reynoso Lopez up. She will need to take another step forward on Sunday, as she faces Kindergarten finalist Jaque, who won her first two career starts for owner Rojas Racing before running a gritty third to Call Me Candela in the final.

Trained by Cesar De Alba, Blackk Maggic delivered a sensational debut performance on May 9 to headline the 12th and final trial. The Favorite Cartel filly, out of the tremendous producer Up For It, was bumped at the start of her debut but showed an incredible turn of foot to win by a wide margin of 1 1/4 lengths in a sharp :15.58. As a $110,000 Equine Sale purchase, she could easily emerge as one of the night's true standouts with even a normal step forward. Her siblings include stakes winners Up And Atem and She Goes Up, alongside stakes-placed Up For Speed. Kindergarten qualifier Cyber Eyes—who is a perfect two-for-two in her career but was scratched from the Kindergarten final—along with maiden winners Wee Political and CV Fddinasty Shan, round out the top contenders in this exceptionally talented final group.

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