LOS ALAMITOS, CA—DECEMBER 30, 2012—San Gregorio Racing Stable and Jose and Gustavo De La Torre’s record setting 2-year-old colt One Dashing Eagle dominated the 2012 Los Alamitos Race Course year-end awards as voted by media members and Los Alamitos racing officials. One Dashing Eagle was unanimously named Los Alamitos Horse of the Meet, 2-year-old of the meet and 2-year-old colt of the meet. His victory in the $1,118,000 Golden State Million Futurity was chosen as the race of the meet.

One Dashing Eagle won four of five starts at Los Alamitos in 2012 while earning a meet’s best $876,965. He won the $1,041,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity by 1 ¼ lengths and then the Golden State Million Futurity by 2 ½ lengths. Outside of California, One Dashing Eagle won the $2.4 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs to become the first Quarter Horse to win three million dollar races and the first to earn over $2 million in a single year. Bred by the Allred Brothers, the son of One Famous Eagle received all 18 votes for Horse of the Meet. He also received every vote for 2-year-old of the meet and 2-year-old colt of the meet.

Javier Molina’s El Aguila Real was named the aged horse and aged gelding of the meet thanks to his Grade 1 victories in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship and Vessels Maturity. A winner of three of six starts and $236,441 this year at Los Alamitos, the gelding by Corona Czech also finished second in the Grade 1 Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship and was sixth in the Grade 1 Champion of Champions. El Aguila Real received 13 votes for aged horse and 14 votes for aged gelding of the meet. Champion of Champions winner Rylees Boy, who earned $376,500 while winning one of two starts at Los Alamitos in 2012, received four votes in each of those categories.

Owned and bred by Johnny Trotter, Dash Back Perry was named aged mare of the meet in 16 of the 18 ballots. The daughter of Mr Jess Perry won the Grade 2 $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap and also finished sixth against the opposite sex in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship. Unfortunately, Dash Back Perry was euthazined on June 13, due to colitis. At the time of her death, the 5-year-old was the nation’s No. 2 aged mare by money earned for 2012. She earned $64,603 while winning two of three starts at Los Alamitos. Getit Together received the other two votes in this category. A winner of two of seven starts, Getit Together won the Grade 3 Las Damas Handicap and raced against stakes competition the entire year.

Chad Hart and Bobby Cox’s Jumpn Shake, winner of the Anaheim Handicap, was the top aged stallion. The runner-up in the Grade 3 First Down Dash Handicap and third place finisher in both the Grade 3 Kaweah Bar Handicap and Cypress Handicap, the son of Jumpn won three of 9 starts during the Los Alamitos meeting. Jumpn Shake received 15 votes in this category. First Down Dash winner Kas On Fly and Grade 3 Bank of America California Challenge Championship runner-up Shining First Dash also received votes in the aged stallion division.

Robert Williams’ Flame N Flash was named 3-year-old of the meet after 12 votes in that category and was the unanimous choice as the 3-year-old filly of the meet. The daughter of Walk Thru Fire won the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap and the Grade 3 La Primera Del Ano Derby and also finished second in the Champion of Champions. She earned $353,756 while winning four of eight starts.

Johnny Trotter is the owner of Hez Our Secret, the 3-year-old colt of the meet. The fourth place finisher in the Champion of Champions, Hez Our Secret won the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial and was second by a nose in the Grade 1 $1,000,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby. The son of First Down Dash earned $225,210 at the meet. Kobe, the winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby, received six votes to Hez Our Secret’s 12 in this category.

In the closest race in the media poll, Shane O’Leary’s Super Derby winner Deniro was named 3-year-old gelding of the meet by a narrow 10-8 margin over multiple Grade 1 winner Check My Thoughts. Deniro, whose sire is Desirio, was second by a nose in the Winter Derby and competed in the Champion of Champions en route to earning $476,260. Check My Thoughts, the meet’s only two-time Grade 1 derby winner, won the Grade 1 Golden State Derby and Grade 1 Southern California Derby.

Balgo Racing and Marlyn Gonzalez’s Matabari was the unanimous choice as 2-year-old filly of the meet after winning the Grade 1 $2,108,275 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. A winner in three of five starts, the filly by Mr Jess Perry earned $857,026 in 2012. In the 2-year-old gelding division, voters rewarded Arnold Gonzalez’s Fires Blazin achievement of being the only horse to qualify to the track’s three richest futurities: The Ed Burke Million Futurity, the Golden State Million Futurity and the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. Fires Blazin finished second in the Ed Burke Million, fifth in the Golden State Million and sixth in the Two Million. The son of Walk Thru Fire earned $343,394. Fires Blazin received 12 votes. The August Heat, who finished second in the Two Million Futurity to earn $346,327, gathered the other six votes in this division.

Voting media members included representatives of Track Magazine, TVG, Stallionesearch.com, Q-Racing Journal, Speedhorse, Equibase, A Caballo Magazine, RPTV, 440post.com and selected track officials. The media poll is separate from the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association awards. The PCQHRA will announce its 2012 champions at its annual awards banquet on Thursday, January 24.

2012 MEDIA POLL FOR LOS ALAMITOS HORSES OF THE MEET
Number of votes in parentheses

Horse of the Meet – One Dashing Eagle (18)
Aged Horse of the Meet - El Aguila Real (13); Also receiving votes: Rylees Boy (4)
Top Aged Stallion – Jumpn Shake (15); Also receiving votes: Kas On Fly (2), Shining First Dash (1)
Aged Gelding of the Meet - El Aguila Real (14); Also receiving votes: Rylees Boy (4)
Top Older Mare – Dash Back Perry (16); Also receiving votes: Getit Together (2)
3-Year-Old of the Meet – Flame N Flash (12); Also receiving votes: Check My Thoughts (3), Deniro (2)
Top 3-Year-Old Colt – Heza Our Secret (12); Also receiving votes: Kobe (6)
Top 3-Year-Old Gelding – Deniro (10); Also receiving votes: Check My Thoughts (8)
Top 3-Year-Old Filly – Flame N Flash (18)
2-Year-Old of the Meet – One Dashing Eagle (18)
Top 2-Year-Old Colt – One Dashing Eagle (18)
Top 2-Year-Old Gelding – Fires Blazin (12); Also receiving votes: The August Heat (6)
Top 2-Year-Old Filly – Matabari (18)
Race of the Meet – One Dashing Eagle wins his third million dollar race of the year in the Golden State Million Futurity. (9); Also receiving votes: Champion of Champions (6), Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity (3)

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com