LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JANUARY 21, 2018— Ed Allred's He Looks Hot looked like a million bucks in his trial to the Grade 1, $157,250 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship as the Walk Thru Fire gelding led every step of the way in the 400-yard dash while posting the fastest qualifying time to the race on Sunday night.

Ridden by Cesar Gomez for trainer Scott Willoughby, the millionaire He Looks Hot rocketed out of the gate in the second of two Brad McKinzie trials and had a 1-¼ length lead early on. He remained strong with every stride and crossed the wire an impressive 1-½ lengths ahead of Mark and Peggy Brown's Kissed By An Eagle.

He Looks Hot, a 6-year-old gelding by Walk Thru Fire, covered the distance in :19.650 from the outside post eight, a clocking that was 3/1000ths of a second faster than opening trial winner LD Is Back.

The two trial winners will now headline a strong field of older horses that will return for the Brad McKinzie final to be held on Sunday, January 21. The Brad McKinzie is named in honor of the very influential Los Alamitos Race Course executive, who passed away in 2017.

In picking up his seventh win in 24 career starts, He Looks Hot earned $3,300 to take his career earnings to $1,101,539. The Allred-bred sprinter won the 2014 Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and the 2016 Grade 1 Vessels Maturity. He won the Restricted Grade 1 Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap last year.

"He's a fantastic horse and when he's 100% there's not many that can outrun him," Willoughby said. "We have his foot back (healthy). He had a little abscess that we had been fighting for a while. He's doing great now. Cesar did a great job on him and (groom) Juan Chavez, who takes care of He Looks Hot, has done a fantastic job with the horse. Everything is going very well for him. When he broke tonight, he looked like when he was running as a 2-year-old. It was fun to watch tonight."

Owned by AQHA Racing Champion owner Darling Farms and Jaime Gomez, LD Is Back beat 2016 Champion of Champions winner Zoomin For Spuds by a nose in the other Brad McKinzie trial.

Ridden by Eduardo Nicasio, the Gerardo Pasquel-bred LD Is Back was making his first start since a very troubled running in the Los Alamitos Super Derby on November 12.

"I freshened him up a little bit after the Super Derby," Gomez said. "I backed him up a little bit and then gave him a work about three weeks ago. He's a pretty nice horse. He had a lot of trouble in the Los Alamitos Super Derby. This horse is all heart and all class. He proved it tonight. I had to think it over (about running him) when I saw this field, but if we are going to have a horse for the big one (the Champion of Champions) this is the horse. I think he's going to be a good horse to have fun with this season.

"I only galloped him about once a week for a month," Gomez added. "I took it easy on him. We gave him that turn and work by himself. With the trials now, he'll be ready for the final. He won this trial, which is great. He picked up some money with the trial win and his heart got bigger."

LD Is Back broke about ¾ lengths behind Zoomin For Spuds in this trial, but came flying in a big way to win the race. He's won four of 15 starts and the $3,300 first place prize took his career earnings to $99,290.

Meanwhile, Jim Walker's Zoomin For Spuds looks to have regained the form that earned him the title of AQHA champion 3-year-old gelding in 2016. The now 5-year-old gelding won only one race last year, but he's now finished third in the Champion of Champions and posted this strong second place finish over the past five weeks. Monty Arrossa trains the son of Zoomin For Bux, who was ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala to the third fastest qualifying time of :19.660.

Bill Hoburg's BH Lisas Boy, the winner of this race last year, finished third to LD Is Back in this trial on the way to posting the fourth fastest qualifying time of :19.693. The son of Mighty Invictus was unsaddled in the backstretch after the running of this race and was vanned off, but he was doing better once he returned to Hoburg's barn.

"Horse looks good," Hoburg said. "He is bright eyed. He bled (from his nose) tonight. It's the first time that's ever happened to him. I'm thankful that he is okay."

For complete of qualifiers to the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship qualifiers, times, sires, dams, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys CLICK HERE.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.