Los Alamitos Race Course will host two trials on Sunday for the $53,500 Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity.

© Los Alamitos Race Course

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–JULY 26, 2024–Jeryl Hartley’s Fyrestorm, an allowance winner and half-sister to Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby winner Hes Chickless, and Paul Jones, Jeff Kleid and Steve Rusich’s talented recent winner Apollitical Wonder are among the 19 juveniles that will race in the trials to the $53,500 Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity at 350 yards here on Sunday.               

The first trial is race eight with a nine-horse field, while the second trial is race nine with a 10-horse field.

First post is 7:40 p.m. (PDT).  The nine-race Sunday card has an average field size of 7.6 horses per race.   

Fyrestorm and Apollitical Wonder are among the nine winners that will race in the trials with Fyrestorm being the only two-time visitor to the charmed circle among the 19 in the trials.

Sired by Fly Thru The Fire and out of the top mare Chickitita, Fyrestorm won her second career start at odds of 36-1. After a troubled sixth in her trial to the Ed Burke Million Futurity on May 26, Fyrestorm came back and won a conditioned allowance event at 17-1 odds, which likely makes her the only juvenile at this meet with two victories at odds of 15-1 or higher.

To be ridden by Cruz Mendez, who piloted him in his allowance win, Fyrestorm will start from post eight for trainer Sergio Morfin. Mendez knows the family well, as he also rode the multiple stakes winner Hes Chickless.

Fyrestorm will be in action in the second of two trials and will face the likes of Clanfield Act Stables’  Nevaeh West, who has finished third or better in all but one of her four career starts, and also Link Newcomb’s Show N Tell, who ran third in a trial to the Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity here before trying his luck in the trials to the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity, a race in which he finished fourth while 400 yards.

The gelding by Tell Cartel was well bet in his Rainbow trial, as his final odds were 3-1 in a race in which he challenged early but came up short late. Juan Aleman, who had him at Los Alamitos earlier this year, welcomed Show N Tell back to his stable upon his return from the mountain at Ruidoso.

Ed Allred’s Closer Still, who scored a hard-fought nose win over Bottle It Up in his first start, is among the other top contenders in this race.                                       

The first trial, which is race eight, will be led by Apollitcal Wonder, who has improved in each of his three career starts. He couldn’t show his best when debuting with a troubled start while facing the talented Devils Tower in a 220-yard dash on May 11, but then ran a solid second against solid runner Val Caruso in a maiden test on June 1

In his third start, he was fractious and left a bit slow, but then put it all together from there in route to a ¾ length victory. He’ll start from post number eight in this trial.                   

Other winners in this heat will include Valley Farms’ Wolf, Jesus Avila and Jesus Cuevas’ Gekko, Steve Burns’ Run Thru The Nite, and EG High Desert Farms’ Marco Cartel. All four horses listed here enter this trial off a winning effort.

The 2-year-olds with the fastest 10 times in the trials will advance to the Claiming Futurity final on August 18. Horses are not eligible to be claimed in the trials but can be claimed for a price tag of $16,000 each in the final

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