LOS ALAMITOS, CA—APRIL 29, 2021—Ramon Sanchez became only the second jockey in the 71-year history of Los Alamitos Race Course to reach 150 Quarter Horse stakes wins after piloting Bobby Simmons’ Mental Error to a neck victory over Javier Chavez and Juan Humberto Moya’s Redneck Ryan in the Grade 3, $35,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap here on Saturday night.

With the stakes win, Sanchez moves one win closer to tying Eddie Garcia for the Quarter Horse stakes record at Los Alamitos of 153 wins. Sanchez, the AQHA champion jockey in 2002 and 2009, has already won three stakes races this season. For his career, Sanchez has won 1,932 Quarter Horse races and 191 stakes wins across all racetracks.

However, Los Alamitos has been home to Sanchez, the track’s leading Quarter Horse rider in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Sanchez holds the record for most Quarter Horse wins in a single season at Los Alamitos with 220 in 2002. Always focused in winning big races, Sanchez had no time to celebrate after picking up 149th stakes victory earlier this year. When asked how he felt about the win, Sanchez said “I’m just thinking about winning the next one.”

On Saturday night, he made it 150 for his career and this time around, Sanchez was ready to take a few moments to enjoy it.

“It feels really good,” Sanchez said. “This win really feels like one to celebrate. With this type of horse, I’m always going to have a chance to do good things. I had back problems and I had to fix that through exercises and hard work. I think it has given me the right results. This is the second stakes win I have had with Mental Error, but he has always been in the money. He’s an excellent horse.”

Trainer Paul Jones saddled Mental Error to victory on Saturday night, giving the Jones/Sanchez combination another memorable win to enjoy together.

“That’s really special,” Jones said. “I think most of his stakes wins have been on my horses, not all of them though. Ramon has been a great jockey and he is really doing good this year, riding sharp. He’s always been one of the best jockeys in the nation and I’m happy to see him get that achievement. He has sat on the right horses and has done a great job. I’m really proud of him and proud of Mental Error. He’s a great horse. When he gets a good trip, he’s pretty tough to beat.”

Bred by Steve Burns and purchased by Simmons at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale for $16,000, Mental Error picked up his sixth win in 18 career starts. The 4-year-old gelding by Favorite Carte has hit the board in 13 of those outings and the $19,250 in earnings in the Kaweah Bar takes his career bankroll to $375,694. Mental Error covered the 350 yards in :17.525.

Ridden by Oscar Peinado for trainer Jaime Gomez, Redneck Ryan earned $7,875 for his runner-up finish in this race. The 7-year-old Separatist horse has finished either first or second in all four of his starts at Los Alamitos.

Ed Allred’s Circle City, the winner of the Grade 2 Golden State Derby last year, finished third and was followed across the wire by Old School Icon, Spirit Foose, Cartel Love, Up Is Up, Chicks Fayvorite and Red Hawk Cartel.

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Following his debut start, Dunn Ranch LLC’s In Hott Pursuit looks to be worth every penny of his $220,000 yearling price after a gutsy nose victory over S & S Horses’ talented Corona Yo in the second race here on Saturday.

Purchased at the 2020 Ruidoso Yearling Sale, the Texas-bred colt is by AQHA champion One Famous Eagle and out of the outstanding broodmare Pandorum.

Bred by Fulton Quien Sabe Ranches Lp, In Hott Pursuit is a full brother to champion Hotstepper and a half-brother to Hotsempting. Hotstepper earned $1,336,359 during his career, won the 2018 All American Derby and Texas Classic Derby and ran in the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos. Hotsempting has earned $681,793 in her career, which includes winning the 2020 Ruidoso Derby and running in last year’s Champion of Champions.

Ridden by Armando Cervantes for trainer Monty Arrossa, In Hott Pursuit covered the 300 yards in an excellent time of :15.580, which is only 5/100ths of a second away from Val Frida’s clocking when posting the fastest qualifying time to the Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity last Sunday night.

The team of Ed Allred, Scott Willoughby and Victor Salazar swept the other two juvenile races on the card. Their first win came with Up The Ladder, who won the 300-yard dash in 15.677 followed by Fly Light’s 220-yard win in a time of :12.370. Up

The Ladder is a gelding by Kiddy Up out of Oh La Princess, while Fly Light is a filly by first-crop sire Fly Thru The Fire out of the mare Corona Moonlight.

She’s a half-sister to Kaweah Bar third place finisher Circle City.

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For more info, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.