On Sunday, Stanley Cartel will head the Grade 2, $157,400 Southern California Derby trials at Los Alamitos.

© William Zuazo

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–NOVEMBER 30, 2024–Dunn Ranch and Weetona Stanley’s Stanley Cartel will look to start a new winning streak when he heads the second of four trials to the Grade 2, $157,400 Southern California Derby on Sunday at Los Alamitos.

Twenty-eight sophomores will race in the 400-yard trials with the horses with the 10 fastest times advancing to the final on the meet’s closing night on Sunday, December 22.

The trials will be contested as races five through eight on the card and will make the popular late Pick Four sequence on Sunday. Every trial will feature a seven-horse field.

Stanley Cartel, who began his career with an impressive five-race winning streak, returns to action after a race to forget on the night of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby final on November 9.

The Oklahoma-bred colt by Pyc Paint Your Wagon was one of the favorites in the Super Derby, but he broke with the back of the pack, was brushed at the start and just never challenged for a top spot.

The Stanley-bred runner has always been among the fastest horses out of the gate throughout his career, so a return to norm figures to be in the cards for this start. The Monty Arrossa-trainee Stanley Cartel will start from post six and will be ridden by Armando Cervantes.

There are big names in every trial. In addition to Stanley Cartel, the second trial will also include Keith Nellesen’s Political Rivalry, the winner of the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity and Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity last year, and Kolleen Ledgerwood’s Cowgirl Upp, who was third to star sophomore BP Cartel Policy in the Grade 2 Golden State Derby in the summer.

The opening trial will be headed by Dunn Ranch’s Southern Divine, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Oaks and a finalist in last year’s Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. She’ll face S-Quarter K Racing LLC and Robyn Gordon’s Heza Good Reason in a rematch from their Super Derby trial encounter, which was won by Heza Good Reason by a neck.

The third trial will be headed by Parsons Family Limited Partnership’s Rockin With Energy, who has been sensational in several of her starts this year. She ran lights out when winning the California Breeders Debutante Stakes and then repeated that effort by beating fillies in the Justanold Love Stakes on November 9.

Juniors Quarter Horses’ Ready For It won a trial to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby and then finished second in the final. He’ll enter this event after a second-place finish in the Town Policy for 2-year-olds on the night prior to the Super Derby final.      

The fourth and final trial will include another Dunn Ranch standout in Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby winner Sc Time To Run plus talented sprinters Kevins Wise Corona, Freddie, and Mfs Cheerio.

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For more information, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. You can also follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.