LOS ALAMITOS, CA—MAP 25, 2018—Lucky Seven Ranch’s Grade 1 winner Lotta Blues Man will headline the Quarter Horse feature on Friday night at Los Alamitos, a $12,600 allowance event for 3-year-olds and upward at 350 yards. 

Lotta Blues Man gets top billing as the victor of the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity in 2016. The 4-year-old son of Favorite Cartel since running third in the Grade 2 Southern California Derby last December. He won the Town Policy Handicap last year.  

Dutch Masters III’s Katella Deli, the runner-up in the Los Alamitos Super Derby and Governor’s Cup Derby last year, and Reliance Ranches’ 5-year-old The Charm Of Corona, who finished second to the outstanding BH Lisas Boy in the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity last year, will also compete in this allowance event.  

Kolleen Ledgerwood’s Renewed and Howard Nichols’ We Like Corona, a pair of Grade 1 caliber stakes runner, Cucuro and First Down Dash Handicap runner-up Chicks Fayvorite will complete the field.  

Three consecutive races for 2-year-olds will make up the third, fourth and fifth races of the night on Friday. A couple of 2-year-olds to watch are Always Dreaming and Zip Zip, juveniles sired by the stakes winning Thoroughbred stallion Run Away And Hide, who has also sired graded stakes winning Thoroughbreds.  

Top Aged Horses Square Off On Sunday Night

Track record holder French Fury, multiple derby winner Rite Regal, and the John Cooper-trained trio of AJS Anna Smoke, Branquino, and My Favorite Check make up the talented field of older horses that will get together in the featured ninth race, an $11,025 allowance at 330-yards, on Sunday at Los Alamitos.  

Trained by Valentin Zamudio, Michelle Sanchez’s French Fury ran the fastest 100-yard dash in Los Alamitos history when covering the distance in :06.51 on March 25. The 8-year-old Stoli gelding has raced three other times at 100 yards since last July and each time he’s gone :06.59 or faster. With that type of quickness, he figures to be the first out of the gate on Sunday night. Rodrigo Aceves will ride. The versatile veteran also competed in the 2015 Champion of Champions at 440 yards.  

Urschel 3-D Ranch LLC’s Rite Regal is the richest horse in this lineup with $391,967 in career earnings. The Favorite Cartel gelding won the Grade 2 Golden State Derby and Grade 3 El Primero Del Ano Derby in 2016. He also finished second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and won the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials during his strong ‘16 campaign. He made only three starts in 2017, but this will be his fourth outing in 2018. An allowance winner on February 24, Rite Regal comes in after a slow start hampered his chances to win the Kaweah Bar Handicap on May 5. Cruz Mendez will pilot Rite Regal for Jose Flores.  

John and Carol Cooper’s Branquino will enter this race riding the crest of a three-race win streak. He was impressive in his most recent win, as he cruised to a 1 1/2 length win at 330 yards while making his 2018 debut. Ron Hartley’s My Favorite Check is a veteran of many stakes races. Most recently he was second to the red-hot Royaltys Authority, who followed that effort with a win in the Kaweah Bar. Hartley and Cooper’s AJS Anna Smoke is a talented runner, but he’ll be looking for his first win since the 2016 Governor’s Cup Futurity.  

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.