Val Sofia heads the featured eighth race at Los Alamitos on Sunday.

© Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–JUNE 7, 2024–Jose Luis Valdez’s Val Sofia, who qualified to the Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity, and J Lazy Six Racing’s Koli, whose troubled trip led her to being disqualified from winning a Kindergarten trial, will now square off in the featured eighth race on Sunday night at Los Alamitos.

Nine races are on tap, with the first six events being held around the turn before three straightaway races wrap up the card. Seven maiden fillies will be in action in the eighth race with the Seperate Interest filly Val Sofia heading the lineup after running a solid fifth in the Grade 2 Kindergarten final.

The Ramiro Zuazo trainee ran a bit of an in-and-out race as she broke out at the start before lugging inwards. Even with her less-than-perfect trip, she still finished in the top half of a strong Kindergarten running, including Ed Burke Million finalists My Budd and Fear N Fridays. Val Sofia was third in her Kindergarten trial behind Play Misty, who came back to run third in the Kindergarten final before she also won her Ed Burke trial.

The Heath Taylor-trained Koli was the big favorite in her Kindergarten trial, which was also her career debut. Koli’s lack of experience did her no favors in this trial, as she bumped her inside rival while racing greenly throughout. The William Smith-bred filly has plenty of talent, as shown in her March 29 work in :12.1. The Apollitical Jess filly is from the famous breeding line of First Down Dash, and her granddam is First Carolina, a winner of over $415,000 in her brilliant career.

In that :12.1 drill, Koli outworked the aforementioned My Budd, who finished second in the final after winning his Kindergarten trial and then won his Ed Burke trial. On March 13, Koli worked from the inside post as part of a three-horse set that included Born In The Blood, who won his Kindergarten trial. The winner of this drill in :12.5, Koli hopped out of the gate, veered in but settled quickly and flashed beautifully to take the lead. She accelerated nicely, led Born In The Blood at the midway point, and then cruised home while finishing ahead of Born In The Blood in 1 1/4-lengths.

Ed Allred’s Star Role, who ran third in her maiden outing on May 25, and first-time starter Worth Chancing are among the others who will see action in this event. Unconditional Love, Gold N Miss, and Train Station B will complete the field.

In addition to Val Sofia, owner Jose Luis Valdez will also be represented by Val Parras in the ninth and final race on the card. This event will feature a strong field of eight runners, each eligible to be claimed for $12,500. Most of the horses in this field have recently raced for $16,000, claiming tag, so there’s not much class relief for any of the runners here.

Val Parras is the only horse here who is not dropping in class. He finished third against $12,500 claimers in his last out, but earlier this year, he faced allowance runners. Other names to watch in this event are David Barran’s Seperate Sparks and Oscar Parra’s Fly Thru Parra, who finished second and third, respectively, when facing each other in a race for $16,000 claimers on May 18.                                      

The first Quarter Horse race of the night will be headed by Hector Cuevas’ La Famosa Vaquera, who ran the best race of her career when finishing second to Foosea in the Adequan Los Alamitos Derby Challenge final on May 19. The Idaho-bred filly by Flying Cowboy 123 led early in this race before finishing second to the impressive winner Foosea.                                             

In the distance race that kicks off the card, Jaime Morfin’s Donttestyourluck will go after his third win from his last four starts when he leads a field of eight in the first race. Stormy Joe will go after his second straight win while racing in the second, while the Ed Moger, Jr.-trained Winning Lover will make his local debut in the third.