LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JUNE 10, 2019—Superstars Zoomin For Spuds, He Looks Hot, and BH Lisas Boy are among the five Grade 1 stakes winners that will headline the trials to the Grade 1, $155,100 Vessels Maturity on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

A total of 19 top aged runners will be in action in the 400-yard trials with the horses with the 10 fastest times advancing to the final to be held on Sunday, July 7. The winner of the Vessels Maturity final will earn a provisional berth to this year’s Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions.

Jim Walker’s homebred Zoomin For Spuds is already sitting pretty in terms of Champion of Champions spots after winning the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship on February 10. Also the winner of the 2016 Champion of Champions and the defending Vessels Maturity champ, Zoomin For Spuds is nearing the $800,000 in career earnings while winning 14 of 38 career starts. The Monty Arrossa-trainee is the marquee name in the first of the three Vessels trials and will start from post number two with Jesus Rios Ayala aboard.

Zoomin For Spuds is a perfect two for two in 2019 after victories in his Brad McKinzie Winter Championship trial and wire-to-wire win the final. The 6-year-old gelding by Zoomin For Bux will enter Sunday’s action having won five of his last 10 starts – all of them coming in stakes or stakes trials competition.

The opening trial will also feature 2018 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Horse of the Year Jesstacartel, the runner-up to 2018 AQHA World Champion Bodacious Eagle in last year’s Champion of Champions. Owned and bred by Lesley Joyner, Jesstacartel won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and Grade 2 Golden State Derby during his outstanding 2018 campaign. He finished sixth in his only 2019 start when taking on Zoomin For Spuds in a trial to the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship . He enters this race after posting an :18.30 gate drill at 350 yards on June 1.

Ed Allred’s Well Good is among the hottest horses on the grounds after going a perfect four-for-four at this meet. The Kiddy Up gelding began his winning streak with an allowance win on December 30 and he’s since added two stakes wins – the Cypress Handicap and Kaweah Bar Handicap – plus an additional allowance triumph. Vinnie Bednar will ride him for trainer Scott Willoughby.

A1A Racing LLC’s Tarzanito, the 2018 AQHA champion aged stallion, multiple stakes winner Black Fryday and Brad McKinzie Winter Championship runner-up Eyes The Favorite will headline the second trial. Tarzanito finished fourth in the Kaweah Bar and never got going after a troubled break in the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship. Lisa Beauprez, Tom Bradbury Jr., Bradbury Racing and Paul Jones’ Eyes The Favorite has been sharp for most of the past year now. He’s hit the board in seven of his last 10 starts and that includes runner-up efforts in the Grade 2 Southern California and the aforementioned Brad McKinzie Winter Championship. He could be in line for his first win since his romp in the Southern California Derby trial on November 30.

Ron Hartley’s Black Fryday won the Southern California Derby and Governor’s Cup Derby and was third in his first foray against older foes in the Moonist Handicap on March 29. If he improves following that effort, he will be fighting for top honors in this trial.

Allred’s outstanding He Looks Hot, a winner of $1,232,673 in 31 career starts, has continued to excel now at 7-years-old in 2019. He won the Moonist Handicap in his last start and before that he finished a strong fourth in the Brad McKinzie Winter Championshp. Bednar will be aboard the ageless star, who’ll be going after his 12th victory and a return to the Vessels final, which he won back in 2016.

Zoomin For Spuds and He Looks Hot are not the only past winners of this race. Bill Hoburg’s BH Lisas Boy is another one with a Vessels trophy on his mantle after scoring in the 2017 running of this race. He also finished second in last year’s running and like Zoomin For Spuds is quickly approaching the $800,000 mark in earnings. The 7-year-old by Mighty Invictus has earned $757,862 in his outstanding 37-race career.

Katie Easy Moves, second in the Moonist and and third in the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship, is another top contender in this event. This trial will also feature 2018 Town Policy Handicap winner My Favorite Cartel, multiple stakes winner CM Boom Shakalaka, and multiple Grade 1 stakes placed runner Call Me Cole.

The staff at Los Alamitos Race Course has already started to make plans for a second Salute To First Responders event in 2020. For more information on Salute to First Responders, please call 714-820-2690 or visit losalamitos.com. Follow Los Alamitos Race Course on Twitter and Instagram @losalracing and on Facebook @losalamitosracecourse.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.