Cattail Cove headlines the Kaweah Bar Handicap on Saturday at Los Alamitos

© Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–APRIL 24, 2025–Link Newcomb’s “once in a lifetime” horse is the 8-year-old gelding Cattail Cove, a multiple stakes winning star who will race for the 54th time in his career in the $40,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Trained by Juan Aleman, Cattail Cove has won 11 races in his career, including three consecutive wins dating back to the Grade 3 First Down Dash Handicap on December 21.

Since then, Cattail Cove has added two more wins this year, a hard-fought allowance win on February 16, and a month later on March 16, a come-from-behind head win in the Moonist Stakes at 400 yards. Now a six-time stakes winner in his career, Cattail Cove will look to add the Kaweah Bar to his list of accomplishments.

This will be the fourth straight year that Cattail Cove starts in the Kaweah Bar. His previous starts featured a second-place finish in the 2022 running and a third-place finish in the 2024 renewal.

The son of Favorite Cartel will look to win the Kaweah Bar for the first time while leading an outstanding field of 10 that will also include Stanley Cartel, the winner of the Grade 2 Southern California Derby last year, and Kevins Wise Corona, a multiple graded stakes finalist during his 20-race career.

To be ridden by Martin Arriaga from post number nine, Cattail Cove will enter this race having finished third or better in 35 of his first 53 starts.

“It’s amazing what he’s doing at 8 years old with this kind of company,” Aleman said after the Moonish. “He’s still able to run them down. He’s lost a step at the start, but he knows how to run, and he knows how to finish. I’m so happy to have this horse in my barn and excited for this year because he’s running so well. He’s a veteran, has been around, has seen everything.”

Owned by Weetona Stanley and Dunn Ranch, Stanley Cartel has seen the winner’s circle in seven of his eight career starts. He’ll make his 2025 debut in the Kaweah Bar after posting a 1/2 length victory in the Southern California Derby on December 22. Armando Cervantes will ride the horse by Pyc Paint Your Wagon from post number four for trainer Ramiro Castillo.

The field from the rail out is as follows: Winners Share, SM Jess Corona, Jess Being A Friend, Stanley Cartel, Sneaky Kid, RS Shere Khan, Edberg Verde, Kevins Wise Corona, Cattail Cove, and Rayenare. The latter won the La Fiesta Derby at The Downs At Albuquerque last November and enters his Los Alamitos debut with $218,637 in career earnings.

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