London Toby, under jockey Gabriel Lara, won the $25,000 Be A Bono Stake at Los Alamitos Race Course Sunday night.

© Amber Mendez

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–JUNE 16, 2024–Ed Allred's London Toby followed his victory in the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship with a solid win in the $25,000 Be A Bono Stakes here on Sunday night.

Making his first start since that February win, London Toby bumped at the start of the Be A Bono before settling into his stride and powering away from his rival to win the 400-yard dash by ¾ lengths.

The son of leading sire Favorite Cartel out of London Laura covered the distance in :19.820 while improving to seven wins in 17 starts. He is trained by Scott Willoughby and was ridden by Gabriel Lara.

Scott Willoughby, Gabriel Lara, and Tracie Kling accept the Be A Bono Stakes trophy. © William Zuazo

The Be A Bono served as a prep for the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity to be held at Los Alamitos on Sunday, July 7. The winner of the Vessels Maturity earns a provisional berth to the Champion of Champions, an accolade already earned by London Toby thanks to his Winter Championship victory. Nevertheless, the Allred-bred is now ready for the Vessels final after this winning effort.

"It couldn't be any better," Willoughby said. "We didn't have trials for the Vessels and he needed a race. He had not run since the (February). This was a perfect spot for him and Gabriel did a great job with him. He kind of didn't get away from the gate a little bit, Gabriel picked him up and let him run. He finished extremely strong. I'm very happy with him going into the big race."

London Toby earned $13,750 to take his career earnings to $208,806.

Steve Holt and Jeff Jones' Hes Judgeandjury earned $5,625 for running second in the Be A Bono. The winner of the 2022 All American Futurity has now earned $1,979,286 in his 17-race career.

Fortunate Corona ran third and was followed by Normandy, Edberg Verde, Terrific Phoenix, and Dont Sass KVN.

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