LOS ALAMITOS, CA—APRIL 8, 2018—Randy Dickerson and Nick Lowe’s CM Boom Shakalaka gave his owners their first stakes victory at Los Alamitos after beating Dont Foose With Me by a nose in the $18,000 James Smith Memorial Handicap for 3-year-olds on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

Ridden by Jose Nicasio and saddled by Lowe, CM Boom Shakalaka broke sharply from post number two and battled Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity finalist On Our Way during the first part of the 350-yard race.

CM Boom Shakalaka eventually took the lead, but then had to hold off a strong finish from Dont Foose With Me.

Bred in Oregon by Dickerson, the Carters Cartel gelding covered the distance in :17.714 while recording his seventh win in 10 career starts. He earned $9,900 for this win to take his career earnings to $60,976. CM Boom Shakalaka’s win capped off a good week for Dickerson and Lowe at Los Alamitos.

"Friday we had a one of our homebreds, CM Once Ina Blue Moon, win with a big finish,” Dickerson said. “Now this is our first stakes win. We’ve qualified a few times. We’re really happy to be here."

Dickerson and Lowe first worked together in 2003 with Mi Fames A Dandy, the dam of CM Boom Shakalaka.

"(Nick) took over the training of CM Boom Shakalaka’s mother when she was two. When we got done (racing) her, Nick asked what I was going to do with her. I told him that I was going to breed her and he said ‘I would like to be a part of it.’ We’ve gotten a couple of pretty nice runners out of her now. We now have some nice broodmares and we are here to stay."

Earlier this year, CM Boom Shakalaka won his trial to the Grade1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby and then finished fifth in the $215,450 final.

As a 2-year-old, CM Boom Shakalaka won the Baxter Andruss Oregon Bred Futurity at Portland Meadows and the Emerald Downs Juvenile Challenge. He’s now added a third stakes win thanks to his gutsy effort in the James Smith at Los Alamitos.

As for Lowe, he has saddled the winners of 707 Thoroughbred races and now 70 Quarter Horse winners in a training career that dates back to 1983. With the likes of CM Boom Shakalaka and CM Once Ina Bluemoon, there figures to be many more Quarter Horse wins to come. “Our racing stock has gotten better,” Lowe said. “I think they deserve to be here. (CM Boom Shakalaka) has been training well. He got a little hot tonight. He’s super hyper and he trains that well too in the morning, but he’s all racehorse and wants to run.”

"It’s a dream to be here," Dickerson added.

Spackman Racing and Lin Melton’s Foose gelding Dont Foose With Me, the runner-up in the Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity last year, earned $4,050 for his game second place finish.

Lazy Creek Ranch and Jerry McAlevey’s On Our Way crossed the wire third, just another nose behind Dont Foose With Me. The filly is a daughter of multiple stakes sire One Sweet Jess.

Oatman Handicap winner Apollitical Stone, the favorite in this race, finished fourth with Corona Thru Fire completing the field.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.