LOS ALAMITOS, CA—AUGUST 23, 2020—Another piece to the Champion of Champions puzzle will be known when a full field of 10 Quarter Horses compete in the Grade 1, $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap on Sunday night at Los Alamitos.

The Go Man Go does not offer a direct berth to the Champion of Champions, but it does offer its winner the first crack at a spot in the prestigious $600,000 race in the event one does open up. The Go Man Go Handicap winner is nearly always a part of the Champion of Champions field.

The Go Man Go field will be headed by Ed Allred’s Chocolatito, who will enter the 400-yard dash after the winning the Grade 1, $157,000 Vessels Maturity on July 5. Chocolatito has been at the top of his game this year, as he has also won the Kaweah Bar Handicap and an allowance race. Scott Willoughby will saddle the son of Favorite Cartel.

Gary Nutt and Turner Farms’ Jess Macho Corona always run great in stakes races even though he has yet to win a graded stakes event. The son of Corona Cartel has run second in three major Grade 1 stakes, including a runner-up effort to Chocolatito in the Vessels Maturity.The Paul Jones-trainee also finished second in last year’s All American Derby and in the 2018 Golden State Million Futurity.

Legacy Ranch’s Mister Appolotical was a two-time derby winner last year, defeating Chocolatito in a photo finish in the Grade 3 PCQHRA Breeders Derby and then blowing away the field in the Grade 2 Southern California Derby on closing weekend of the 2019 Los Alamitos meet. In the Southern California, Mister Appolitical beat a field that included Dexxter, who is currently the nation’s no. 2 ranked Quarter Horse, multiple stakes winner Tac Me Up and Chocolatito. Mister Appolitical returned in 2020 with an easy win in his trial to the Vessels Maturity before running third to Chocolatito in the final.

Rosenthal Ranch’s Powerful Favorite returns to action after winning his trial to the Vesesls Maturity on June 14. The connections of the four-time stakes winner opted to Vessels final and the son of Favorite Cartel has since posted a sharp 220-yards turn and work in :12.50 on August 8. If he returns at the top of his game, Powerful Favorite will certainly be in the mix of a top three effort in this race.

The field will feature a pair of PCQHRA Horse of the Year in 2016 winner Zoomin For Spuds and 2018 winner Jesstacartel. The 7-year-old Zoomin For Spuds has won 11 stakes races in his great Los Alamitos career and a victory on Sunday would make him only the second horse to win the Go Man Go, Champion of Champions, Vessels Maturity and Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship. The 2000 Co-World Champion Whosleavingwho is the only Quarter Horse to have won all four of those Grade 1 races. Zoomin For Spuds won the 2016 Champion of Champions, 2018 Vessels Maturity and the 2019 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship.

Meanwhile, Lesley Joyner’s Jesstacartel will look to regain the great form of his sophomore campaign when he won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and Grade 2 Golden State Derby while also running second in the Champion of Champions. Jesstacartel finished fifth in last year’s Go Man Go as the 6-5 favorite.

EG High Desert Farms’ Bail Czech winner of the Restricted Grade 1 Spencer Childers Championship Handicap, Grade 1 runner-up Corona Jumpim MRL, the graded stakes placed Transcend and stakes winner Alamode will complete the field.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.