Ima Sixy Man is one of ten horses featured in the $58,718 AQHA Grants Pass Championship Challenge on Sunday.

© Los Alamitos

BY MICHAEL CUSORTELLI

GRANTS PASS, OR–SEPTEMBER 20, 2024–Ima Sixy Man, a multiple stakes-winning 4-year-old Corona Cartel gelding, is one of 10 aged runners entered back in Sunday’s 440-yard, $58,718 AQHA Grants Pass Championship Challenge at Grants Pass Downs.

Trained by Emilio Guerrero for owner Boardshorts Stables LLC, Ima Sixy Man won two stakes on the Northern California Fair Circuit last summer, including the July 4, 300-yard Jack Robinson Handicap at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton. The Oklahoma-bred gelding was a finalist in last year’s 400-yard, $163,000 Southern California Derby (G2) at Los Alamitos.

Ima Sixy Man drew post eight and will be ridden by Jose Figueroa.

Other contenders include Malon Cowgill’s Jesstifiably Jess, a homebred 8-year-old One Sweet Jess gelding trained by Benito Curiel. Jesstifiably Jess scored a neck victory in the August 18, $55,000 AQHA Emerald Downs Championship Challenge, and he ran second, a head behind winner A Famous Ribbon, in last year’s AQHA Grants Pass Championship Challenge.

Jesstifiably Jess drew post four and will be ridden by Jaime Lopez.

The winner of this race will earn a berth in the October 26, $250,000 AQHA Challenge Championship (G1) at Albuquerque Downs.