LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JUNE 23, 2018—Legacy Ranch's Wicked Affair will look to become the 12th horse to pull off the Kindergarten/Ed Burke double when she headlines the 10-horse field in the Grade 1, $1,060,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

The first horse to score this prestigious futurity double was Ivan Ashment's Bobbys Angel in 1975. Since then, Town Policy, Mega Dash, Corona Chick, Ah Sigh, First Sovereign, Morning Snow, Hawkish, Carters Cartel, Separate Fire and Walk Thru Fire have also swept the first two futurities of the year at Los Alamitos.

To be ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala for trainer Terry Knight, Wicked Affair ran like a flash ready to take on all comers in her Ed Burke trial win on June 10. The homebred filly by One Sweet Jess won her 350-yard trial by an impressive 2 ¼ lengths – the largest winning margin in the trials – while posting the second fastest qualifying time of :17.50. Wicked Affair will start from the outside post 10, which is the same post she drew when winning the Grade 2, $322,000 Robert Adair Kindergarten on May 20.

"Sometimes when they win those big races, there's a bounce factor," said Pete Parrella of Legacy Ranch. "We were hoping that she could run like this because I think she had a pretty bad start (in the Kindergarten). We're just tickled that she could perform. I just think that she's something special. According to our jockey, she had a little something left in the tank. There are a lot of good horses in the Ed Burke, it'll just be a matter of whether luck is on our side."

Wicked Affair is the 2-1 favorite in the Ed Burke Million.

Legacy Ranch will have the field surrounded in the Ed Burke Million. In addition to Wicked Affair racing from the far outside post, his homebred gelding Mister Appolitical will start from post number one. The son of Apollitical Jess will also be sadded by Knight and will be ridden by Cruz Mendez.

Fastest qualifier SC Money Maker and the talented Powerful Favorite are both 3-1 on Ed Burgart's morning line for the Ed Burke. Trained by Mike Robbins for Reliances Ranches LLC, SC Money Maker won his trial by a half-length over Powerful Favorite while posting the top time of :17.45. The son of Pyc Paint Your Wagon also posted the fastest qualifying time to the Kindergarten Futurity. He then finished fifth in the final after getting bumped badly from both sides at the start.

"He had some issues (after the Kindergarten)," Robbins said. "He had a foot that was bothering him. When they ran over him, they cut up his leg a little bit. We had to work on that, not bad, but we had to work on that. He had a few minor issues, but nothing serious."

Robbins was thrilled to see SC Money Maker return with an impressive win on Ed Burke trial night, but he admitted that the Oklahoma-bred was a little winded after the race.

"First time he has gone 350 and he puts everything into it," he said. "He's always tired when he comes back. He's about as consistent as you'd want. You don't have to ask him to run. He does it all on his own."

Oscar Peinado will ride SC Money Maker from post number three.

Rosenthal Ranches' Powerful Favorite ran second to SC Money Maker in their trial, but his time of :19.507 was only a blink away from matching Wicked Affair's winning time.

"(Powerful Favorite) doesn't have much experience so I thought he did pretty well," said trainer Chris O'Dell after the trials. "He's only had one other race. He hasn't figured out how to run. There's not too many horses that can make up ground on a horse like SC Money Maker. We were running him down a little bit. I was pleased with the effort. We have to get (Powerful Favorite) better in the gate."

Eduardo Nicasio will ride from post number eight.

Nicasio's younger brother, Jose Nicasio, will get the call aboard Howard Nichols' undefeated Corona Cartel gelding Dexxter in the Ed Burke final. Trained by Jaime Gomez, Dexxter posted the fifth fastest time after his half-length trial win. In his only other career start, the McColee Land & Livestock Llc-bred runner posted a daylight victory to break his maiden on April 28. As for the younger Nicasio, he piloted the Gomez-trained AQHA champion 2-year-old J Fire Up to a second place finish in last year's Ed Burke Million final.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.