LOS ALAMITOS, CA— May 1, 2015—Eight trials to the richest running of the Grade 2 Kindergarten Futurity since 2011 headed by promising maiden winners Walk Thru Crystal, Docs Best Card, Flashy Big and more will highlight Sunday’s program at Los Alamitos. A total of nine races are on tap with the first Kindergarten trial set as the second race on the card. First post is 5:20 p.m. (PDT)

Sixty-one juveniles will compete in the 300-yard trials with the horses with the 10 fastest times returning for the Kindergarten final on Sunday, May 17. Trainer Paul Jones, a winner of two Kindergarten finals in his career, will saddle two horses in each of the trials for a total of 16 hopefuls on Sunday night.

His top runners will include promising first time starter Kittyna and Foust in the third and eighth race, respectively, and Abigail Kawananakoa’s Free Swinger, the top seller at the 2014 Los Alamitos Equine Sale. Other promising runners from Jones’ barn include Much Better Reason, Peacefull Delight, and Bugs Wagon.

The opening trial of the night is one of the toughest, as it will feature a pair of maiden winners in the form of EG High Desert Farms’ Walk Thru Crystal and Bobby Cox’s Carnegie Haul and two horses with second place debuts in Anna and Rod MacPherson’s Big Time Wild and Janet McKinnerney’s Seis Ways. Trained by Yanet Rodriguez and to be ridden by Alejandro Luna, Walk Thru Crystal owns the fastest 300-yard time by a 2-year-old this season of :15.37. Her impressive win was not a fluke, as the Walk Thru Fire filly posted the fastest of 22 workouts prior to her racing debut.

Jaime Gomez, who is tied with the legendary Blane Schvaneveldt for a stakes record seven Kindergarten victories, will saddle Carnegie Haul plus four other good looking babies on Sunday. In addition to Carnegie Haul the trainer will also saddle his Docs Best Card, a colt with an easy ¾ maiden victory on April 18. Docs Best Card is a half brother of 2000 Kindergarten winner Secret Card. His effort was so strong that Gomez considered skipping the Kindergarten in order to save him for the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity trials in early June.

“We schooled him on Wednesday morning and he did great and we jogged him on Thursday because he’s been jumping at the chance to run,” Gomez said. “He’s doing nicely coming into this race.”

Docs Best Card will race in the third trial of the night and will face a group that will also include EG High Desert Farms’ Marko Czech. The second trial will be headed by Jorge Haddad’s Kittyna, who has yet to race this year, but has done nicely in morning drills (:12.20 on March 24). Kittyna is a half sister to Grade 1 Heritage Place Futurity winner Ragazzo and TQHRA Sires Futurity winner Giorgino.

Brad Hart’s Daring N Different was magnificent in her morning workouts prior to her debut, but after a quick start she came back to the field and had to settle for third place on April 11. Ridden by Cruz Mendez for trainer Jose Flores, the Valiant Hero fillies should still be a major player in the fourth trial of the night (race number five) while facing maiden winner Tellem Im Sweet, an Idaho-bred filly owned by Joaquin Melero. Mendez and Flores have joined forces to win the last two runnings of the Kindergarten with the fillies Glitter In My Face and Old Girl. Flores has won a total of four Kindergarten runnings in his career.

The deepest heat of the night appears to be trial number six, as the field will feature three maiden winners and a pair of third place finishers. Hector Hernandez’s Colt As Ice won the season’s first race for 2-year-old back on April 4, while Angela Aquino and Ashley Garcia’s High Class Cartel won the season’s second juvenile race later that evening. The two will meet in this race and will be joined by Ed Allred’s Joyous, which posted a solid half-length victory on April 17.

The final trial of the evening features a strong group as well headed by the ultra talented gelding Flashy Big. Owned and trained by Juan Aleman, Flashy Big won his maiden by 1¼ lengths in a quick time of :15.68. This trial will also feature Free Swinger as well as Miss Special Regard and Sinister Plot, a pair of runners that finished third against maiden foes in their last race.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.