LOS ALAMITOS, CA—OCTOBER 12, 2017—Nine of the top Quarter Horses in the nation will come together in the Grade 1 $125,000 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship at 440 yards on Sunday night.

The field will be headed by the defending Los Alamitos Invitational Championship winner Heza Dasha Fire. The gelding by Walk Thru Fire will look to become the first back-to-back winner of this race since 2010 and only the sixth horse to win it in consecutive years.

To be ridden by Cruz Mendez for trainer Jose Flores, Heza Dasha Fire won the $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap in awesome fashion in his most recent start on September 3. He was on the lead in the blink of an eye and had a daylight advantage 50 yards into the race. He cruised from there, posting a 1-¾ length victory – one of the most impressive in his great career.

A winner of seven Grade 1 stakes races during his career, Heza Dasha Fire was named the 2015 AQHA World Champion and was the winner of that year’s Champion of Champions. Also the winner of a Grade 2 race, Heza Dasha Fire needs $10,763 to go over the $2 million mark in earnings.

Of course, the field for the Robert Boniface is an outstanding one. Ed Allred’s He Looks Hot has become a major rival to Heza Dasha Fire, as he has defeated the world champion twice in major stakes event. He Looks Hot handed Heza Dasha Fire his only loss of 2014 when defeating him in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. Also sired by Walk Thru Fire, He Looks Hot recently outdueled Heza Dasha Fire in the Restricted Grade 1 Spencer Childers Championship Handicap on July 29.

Johnny Trotter’s Bodacious Eagle is another top star in this field, as the two-time Grade 1 stakes winner is set to make his first outing of the year at Los Alamitos after racing at Ruidoso Downs and Remington Park. To be saddled by Jaime Gomez on Sunday night, Bodacious Eagle is a 5-time graded stakes winner.

Reliance Ranches LLC will have a strong 1-2 punch in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship. Big Lew, the 2016 Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby winner, and 3rd place finisher in Champion of Champions last year is one of the Reliance Ranches horses that will be saddle Mike Robbins in this event.

Reliance Ranches’ The Charm Of Corona is the other Robbins-trainee and he comes in after running second in the Vessels Maturity, third in Bank of America California Championship, and fourth in the Go Man Go Handicap.

Two-time stakes winner Stel Easy, who ran third in the Restricted Grade 1 Spencer Childers Championship Handicap, add to the talent of this field, Katies Easy Moves, an 11-time winner in his career and twice a stakes runner-up at Los Alamitos in 2016, Grade 1 stakes placed mare Thermonuclear Energy, who ran fourth in the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap last month, and the stakes placed We Like Corona, who will be making his eighth start in a stakes race, will also be part of this field.

In other new regarding top aged horses, Bill Hoburg said that BH Lisas Boy is back in training, has been galloping, and was back on the track earlier this week. The horse is recovering after surgery and has responded nicely to aquatic therapy. Hoburg is optimistic that BH Lisas Boy will be ready to participate in the 2017 Champion of Champions.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.