LOS ALAMITOS, CA—AUGUST 5, 2017—Alvaro Lua’s Favorite Hot Cartel flew in the final 100 yards to win the second of four trials to the John Deere California Juvenile Challenge at 350 yards in the fastest qualifying time of :17.897 on Saturday at Los Alamitos.

Twenty-eight runners competed in the trials with the horses with the 10 fastest times returning for the final on Saturday, August 19. The list will be headed by Favorite Hot Cartel after the Favorite Cartel gelding edged Kindergarten Futurity finalist Missmerizing by a head to record his first career win in four starts.

Ridden by Oscar Peinado, Favorite Hot Cartel was making his barn debut for trainer Ramiro Zuazo. In his previous start, the Isla Vista Ranch-bred runner was disqualified from first and placed third for impeding his rival. Favorite Hot Cartel, however, was all business on Saturday night, breaking sharply from the outside post number three to close powerfully and earn top honors for the night.

"This horse has a bright future," Zuazo said. "We hope that he continues to run like he did tonight. He doesn’t have a lot of starts under his belt. This was a solid win for him and I feel that he’s a powerful horses with the ability to finish strong. He’s in good condition and has a lot of class."

Denny and Sandy Weigt’s Missmerizing finished with the second fastest qualifying time of the night of :17.922 while also posting her fourth runner-up effort in six career starts. The filly by Pyc Paint Your Wagon finished second to eventual Kindergarten Futurity winner Fire And Sass in their Kindergarten trial and her seventh place finish in the final is one of the few times in which she hasn’t placed in a race. Cesar De Alba piloted the Monty Arrossa-trained filly. Fulton Quien Sabe Ranches Lp bred Missmerizing.

SC Vapor Trail and Apollitical Stone, a pair of Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity finalists, won their respective John Deere California Juvenile trials.

Ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala for trainer Mike Robbins, Reliance Ranches LLC’s Corona Cartel filly, SC Vapor Trail, won the opening trial by ¾ lengths, while Jose Flores and Steve Mickaelian’s Apollitical Stone won the third trial also by ¾ lengths.

Sixth in the Ed Burke Million final, SC Vapor Trail posted the third fastest qualifying time of the night after winning her heat in a time of :17.968.

"She ran a really good race in the Ed Burke," Robbins said. "She just got outrun. She’s not quite that caliber of horse just yet, but I hope she will be later in the year. This was a really good race for her tonight."

Ridden by Cruz Mendez, the Apollitical Jess gelding Apollitical Stone finished fourth in the Ed Burke final and as a result was the overwhelming 1-9 favorite in his trial.

"He did real good in the Ed Burke Million," Flores said. "Right now he had me a bit concerned during the first 100 yards. He seemed like he couldn’t get a hold of the track. He leveled off pretty nicely and was strong from there. I was bit concerned because he wasn’t striding out at all. We’ll see. Hopefully everything checks out fine with him and we’ll start getting him ready for the final."

The complete list of qualifiers with times, sires, dams, owners, breeders, trainers and jockeys CLICK HERE.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.