Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity winner Beuteeful heads into the Grade 1, $415,500 Los Alamitos Oaks trials Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

© William Zuazo

By Orlando Gutierrez

CYPRESS, CA–MARCH 5, 2026– In the years since the La Primera Del Ano Derby was renamed the Los Alamitos Oaks, this Grade 1 event has established itself as one of the premier races for fillies in the nation. Its national impact was immediate: 2024 winner Asscher was named the AQHA World Champion, while 2025 winner Shaken Goin On earned honors as the AQHA Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and PCQHRA Horse of the Year. Other past victors, such as Dreams Divine, Apollitical Patty, and Sweet Tess, have also been recognized as California’s top sophomore fillies.
Trials for the 2026 Grade 1, $415,500 Los Alamitos Oaks take place Saturday night at Los Alamitos, and once again, the lineup of hopefuls is as sturdy as oak. Keith Nellesen’s Beuteeful is one of 24 fillies that will compete in the Oaks trials at 400 yards, with the 10 fastest qualifiers advancing to the final to be held here on Saturday, March 28. She’ll headline the second of three trials, which also features Ed Burke Million finalist Shiny New and graded futurity finalists Fancy Upp, Elemyntal, and the talented AJ Gold Player.
Beuteeful leads the way in the second trial following a juvenile campaign that lived up to her name. The gray daughter of KVN Corona won the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity and qualified for both the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million and the Grade 1 Golden State Million. She finished her freshman year with five wins from seven starts and earnings of $309,262. Her fourth-place finish in the Two Million was one of the few "blemishes" in a season that was otherwise a thing of beauty.
M & G Farms and Steve Burns’ Shiny New returned with as polished a sophomore debut as one could hope for. The daughter of Mpshinning, out of the AQHA Champion Aged Mare Quirky, scored a 3/4-length allowance win at 350 yards on Valentine’s Day. That effort sets her up perfectly for a return to Grade 1 glory. As she enters her Oaks trial, Shiny New brings a record of three wins from four starts, including posting the fastest qualifying time to last year's Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity.
Kolleen Ledgerwood’s Fancy Upp will be many horseplayers’ top choice to deliver a strong trial effort. The Favorite Cartel filly, out of graded stakes winner Up For It, finished in the money in seven of her eight starts as a juvenile, performing well whenever she stepped up against top-caliber opposition. A two-time winner, she was second against males in the Holiday Handicap on December 28. Fancy Upp also won her trials to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million and the Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity. The Cesar De Alba trainee finished third in the Breeders Futurity final, trailing only standout runners SM My Valentine and eventual Grade 1 winner Toby Sis.
Meanwhile, Sergio Jimenez’s Elemyntal finished ahead of Fancy Upp when running third in the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity final. She has hit the board in five of her seven career starts for trainer Paul Jones.
Trainer James J. Gonzales II brings a solid group to the Oaks trials. Owned by the partnership of Tommy Neal, Kenny Henderson, Todd Nef, and Larry Halfmann, AJ Gold Player has already won twice at Los Alamitos since November, breaking her maiden on November 2 before returning to win an allowance event on December 20. A daughter of Apollitical Jess, she is out of the Corona Cartel mare Mischievous Player, hailing from the family of the great broodmare Dinastia Toll Brz.
Gonzales II will also saddle Mortons Ranch LLC and Ruse Ranch LLC’s Where Is Queen B, who recently outworked AJ Gold Player in preparation for these trials. Making her Los Alamitos debut in the opening Oaks trial, Where Is Queen B arrives after a solid campaign at Lone Star Park and Remington Park. At Lone Star, she ran third in her trial to the Grade 1 Texas Classic Futurity and finished her juvenile season with an allowance win. The filly by Flying Cowboy 123 is out of the graded stakes-placed mare and $232,000 earner Symbol of Faith. She’ll be facing the likes of In The Lead, Walk When I Walk, and French Valley in the first of three trials.
Two strong efforts in futurity trials last year established Steve Burns’ In The Lead as a contender to watch. Making her sophomore debut in an allowance on January 31, she scored a solid victory by a neck in a 350-yard time of :17.825. Trained by Mike Casselman, In The Lead previously won her trial for the Golden State Million Futurity, defeating a field that included Grade 1 finalist Vyper.
Steve Burns’ French Valley looks to recapture her early juvenile brilliance as she returns to action. A full sister to AQHA Champion Trane Station V, French Valley’s first four career outings resulted in a pair of wins and a pair of second-place finishes. One of those runner-up efforts came in the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity, where only PCQHRA Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Jess Im Worth It proved better. While she has finished out of the money in her last four starts, the talent remains for her to return to a more fertile, winning valley.
The Estate of Barry Woodhouse’s Walk When I Walk returns five weeks after facing males in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby. The Favorite Cartel filly was a four-time winner in 2025, and she should relish the return to facing her own sex for trainer Sergio Morfin.
The final trial will be headed by Diamond Cowgirl 123, a gem of a filly whose record includes a victory in the Texas Classic Juvenile at Lone Star Park in November. She followed that with a strong second-place finish to the highly regarded Shiny New on Valentine’s Day. Marc Jungers, who conditioned 2024 Oaks winner Asscher, trains Diamond Cowgirl 123 for the Diamond Cowgirl 123 partnership.
Parsons Ranch’s The Lady Is A Vamp should also thrive in this spot after a tough out against open rivals in the Winter Derby trials. She previously won her trials to both the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity and the Golden State Million Futurity, qualifying for both Grade 1 finals.
The final trial will also feature two exceptional newcomers: Michael McKell’s Fire In The Whole, winner of the Grade 3, $91,000 Bitterroot Futurity in Idaho, and Mi Serenity’s Ruse Ticle Knockout, who was third in the Restricted Grade 3 Black Gold Futurity for trainer Eddie Willis. Purchased for $210,000, the Apollitical Jess filly was the runner-up in the Grade 2 Southwest Juvenile Invitational at Zia Park on December 14. Ruse Ticle Knockout is a full sister to superstar broodmare As And Js, winner of the Grade 2 Junos Request and a high-level performer in the Champion of Champions and Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap.

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