LOS ALAMITOS, CA—NOVEMBER 5, 2021—Dr. James Streelman of Dutch Masters III will look to win his fourth Grade 1 stakes race of the year when he’s represented by fastest qualifier Flash Bak in the $925,650 Los Alamitos Super Derby, the meet’s richest race for 3-year-olds, here on Sunday night.

Streelman won two Grade 1 futurities at Ruidoso Downs this summer with Ruidoso and Rainbow champion Jess Savin Candy, while Flash Bak has already given the owner a Grade 1 derby victory when he took home the money in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby on February 13.

The gelding by second-crop sire Moonin The Eagle could now give Streelman a stakes record fourth Super Derby win. Racing under the famous nom de course of Dutch Masters III, Streelman, who is currently tied with the late Frank "Scoop" Vessels for most victories in this race, celebrated his first Los Alamitos Derby win in 1988 with the Bob Baffert-trained Zure Hope Again. Carlos Lopez saddled Dutch Masters III second win with the champion Four Forty Blast in 1993 before Jaime Gomez managed Chazaq to victory in 2017.

Gomez and Lopez both have had a hand with Flash Bak at Los Alamitos this season, as Gomez trains the six-time winner with Lopez working as his assistant trainer.

Flash Bak, who won his trial by a half-length in the fastest time of :19.66 at 400 yards, will enter the final after posting a turn-and-work in :12.40 last Sunday. Gomez was satisfied with his trainee’s performance.

"He worked pretty easy," he said. "He had to do 13 flat or better and went in :12.40. He came back like nothing. We scoped the horse, everything is perfect. We sent him to the gates on (Thursday morning) and he did really good. I expect a really good race from him."

Oscar Peinado will ride the Streelman and Bill Dale-bred Flash Bak from post number eight.

The winner of the Super Derby will earn a presumptive berth to the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions, which is one of the few major races that Streelman has yet to win in his great career as Quarter Horse owner.

The field to the Super Derby will feature a pair of Grade 1 stakes winning fillies in Paulo Otavio Freire Macedo’s Reason To Fly Mv and Julianna Hawn Holt’s Apollitical Patty. Reason To Fly Mv beat Apollitical Patty in the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap for fillies and mares, a race that earned the Good Reason SA filly a berth to the Champion of Champions. That means that a win by Reason To Fly Mv, since she already has a berth to the Champion of Champions, will open up a berth to the 440-yard classic in next Sunday’s Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials.

Apollitical Patty, who ran first to Flash Bak’s second in last year’s Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, ran a strong race when running second to A Dangerous Flash in the Super Derby trials. The key for the Apollitical Blood filly in that race is that behaved a lot better in the starting gates that in her two previous starts and she flashed quickness out of the gate. If she can maintain her coolness in the gate and get back to her flying ways out of the gate, she will be tough from post number five. Jose Nicasio will ride the Jim Walker-bred filly.

Joe Dee Brooks, Scott Bryant and Norman Allen’s A Dangerous Flash enjoyed a big trial win three weeks ago in his Los Alamitos debut. With a start under the lights under his belt, A Dangerous Flash has to be viewed as a huge player in this race.

Chris O’Dell trains the First Moonflash gelding, who will be ridden by Eduardo Nicasio from post six. He also comes in with six wins from 12 starts, an appearance in the Grade 1 Rainbow Derby, and an appearance against older foes in his last race at Ruidoso Downs back on September 6.

Mike Robbins, who has won the Super Derby three times in his training career, will send out the talented runners SC Divas Cartel Man and A Dash Of Sign for Reliance Ranches LLC. The field will also include Bujanda, Encinas, Flores and CD Horses’ Counting The Ways, who draws post number one, which is a spot from which he’s enjoyed success in the past, and Haras Portofino’s Rite On Time, the California Breeders Debutante winner and a Super Derby trial winner thanks to an impressive finish.

Dunn Ranch’s Fallout, who ran third to Flash Bak and Counting The Ways, completed the field. The son of Favorite Cartel ran third in the Heritage Place Derby on May 29.

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For more info, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.