Dark Nme is one of 33 sophomores competing for a spot to the $763,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby on Sunday night.

© Ruidoso Downs

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–OCTOBER 17, 2024–TYKHE Racing LLC’s Dark Nme, winner of nine of her first 12 starts and over $1.6 million in career earnings, will make her West Coast debut when she is one of 33 standout sophomores in the 400-yard trials to the Grade 1, $763,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby on Sunday night.

Trained by Romeo Mireles, Dark Nme will be in action in the first of four Super Derby trials and will start from post number two against a field that includes multiple local derby winner BP Cartel Policy. The horses with the ten fastest times in the trials will advance to the Grade 1 final on Sunday, November 10.

Named the AQHA champion 2-year-old filly last year, Dark Nme won eight of her nine starts during her 2023 juvenile campaign. Her record includes wins in three Grade 1 events - the Ruidoso Futurity, Rainbow Futurity, and Texas Classic Futurity. Her only blemish was a third-place finish to AQHA champion 2-year-old Cowboys Gun Z in the Grade 1 All American Futurity.

She is sired by Hes Relentless and out of a Quions, who is from the legendary family of First Prize Rose. Dark Nme has had a solid sophomore campaign. She won her trial to the Grade 1 Rainbow Derby and then finishing third in the final to Dashing Tres, who would go on to win the Grade 1 All American Derby winner at The Downs at Albuquerque on Labor Day.

Bill Price’s BP Cartel Policy, who has been the top 3-year-old at Los Alamitos this season, will face off against Dark Nme in the opening heat, which is the sixth race on the nine-race program. The son of Favorite Cartel has won four of his five starts this season while collecting three impressive stakes victories.

His stakes winning campaign began with a 3/4 victory in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby on February 17 and was followed by a winning 2 1/2 length romp in the Dillingham Handicap on May 11.

He had a shocking fifth place finish in the trial to the Grade 2 Golden State Derby but returned to his incredible form by winning the final by two lengths. Armando Cervantes will ride BP Cartel Policy from the outside post number eight for trainer Monty Arrossa.

Led by BP Cartel Policy, Arrossa has a world-class collection of runners in the trials, with the likes of Stanley Cartel, SC Time To Run, and let's Leave, just a few of his other top starters in the trials. In partnership with breeder Weetona Stanley, Dunn Ranch co-owns the undefeated sophomore Stanley Cartel, whose pair of victories this year include the Sgt Pepper Feature Handicap on August 24.

Incredibly talented, Stanley Cartel is also out of the family that traces back to First Prize Rose. Arrossa will saddle Stanley Cartel in the third trial, which is race number eight. Cervantes will ride Stanley Cartel from the outside post nine.

Dunn Ranch’s SC Time To Run, who won the Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby here before traveling to Oklahoma City to win the Grade 2 Heritage Place Derby at Remington Park, will headline the fourth trial in the ninth and final race on Sunday. SC Time To Run returned here in September after winning his trial to the All American Derby.

He missed qualifying to the final, but then ran fourth in the All American Invitational for 3-year-olds. The gelding by Apollitical Jess and out of the champion mare Spit Curl Diva has won five of his seven starts for earnings of over $210,000 this year. He’ll be ridden by Eduardo Nicasio from post number six in this heat. As a side note, the mothers of both Dark Nme and SC Time To Run were sired by the stakes winner Spit Curl Jess.

Another big name recently arriving at Arrossa’s barn is Barron Racing and Empire Racing’s Lets Leave, the Grade 1 Ruidoso Futurity winner last year. Bred by Ed Allred, the Favorite Cartel colt out of Time To Leave will be making his first start since running sixth in the Ruidoso Derby in June.

He posted a gate work at The Downs at Albuquerque on September 15 and most recently had a 220-yard turn and work here on October 3. A winner of four of seven career starts for earnings of $533,316, Lets Leave will face SC Time To Run in the final trial. Cervantes will ride Lets Leave.

Paul Blanchard, Guadalupe Bujanda, Jose Flores, and Santos Montemayor’s Mask Mandate will look to continue his fine local form when he faces SC Time To Run and Lets Leave in the final trial of the night. The son of Favorite Cartel won the Governor’s Cup Derby and most recently ran a strong second to BP Cartel Policy in the Grade 2 Golden State Derby. Cruz Mendez will ride the Flores trainee.

The second trial is the most wide-open of the four, as this evenly matched field will include Juniors Quarter Horses’ Ready For It, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby, Dunn Ranch’s Southern Divine, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Oaks, and Grade 1 stakes finalists Market Analyst, Famous Cartel Jessy, Checkn Cartel, and Heza Good Reason.

There is one All American Derby finalist racing in these trials and that’s Scott Bryant’s Sonny Corona, who is trained by Chris O’Dell, and will race in the opening trial in race six. Meanwhile, Jaime Bryant, Melanie Brooks, and Linda Joiner’s AB Wow will look to make his third Grade 1 stakes final when he takes on Stanley Cartel in the third trial. The son of Apollitical Blood qualified to both the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and Golden State Million Futurity last year and most recently posted an allowance victory here in preparation for these trials.