Millionaires Foose and Tres Passes and outstanding derby runners Fantastic Corona Jr and Jessanotheraffair all qualified to the richest running ever running of the Los Alamitos Super Derby following Friday's trials at 400 yards. The four megastars will now headline an outstanding 10-horse field that will race in the $1,000,000 Super Derby on Saturday, November 7. The Super Derby is the nation's richest derby in 2009 and also the sport's first million-dollar derby since Make Mine Cash won the All American Derby in 1983. Native Gambler's 1980 All American Derby victory is the only other Quarter Horse derby to go over the $1 million mark according to the American Quarter Horse Racing Journal. The winning horse of this year's Los Alamitos Super Derby will earn $398,160.

Foose & Double Out battle in their Super Derby trial

The sport's biggest derby in 26 years will feature a worthy cast of Quarter Horse sprinters headed by Ed Allred and Paul Jones' 2008 champion 2-year-old colt Foose. In one of his most impressive performances in what has already been an impressive racing career, Foose won the third and three trials with ease, covering the 400-yard distance in the fastest qualifying time of :19.51. Jockey Ramon Sanchez piloted the son of Stel Corona confidently while helping him earn his sixth win in 12 career starts. Foose crossed the wire 3/4 lengths ahead of Dutch Masters III and Kelly Spackman's second place finisher Double Out.    

"From the three trial winners, it looked like (Foose) posted the easiest win," Allred said. "It's a lot easier when you draw the outside post (seven) like he did tonight. It gives him a lot more room and he seemed to use that to his advantage. I hope he can duplicate this effort in the final. I think he can because there's no one better than trainer Paul Jones in having a horse ready for a big final. This is one of Foose's best efforts but this horse has been right there in all of his races."

Now a winner of $1,098,778, Foose has never finished worst than second in a Grade 1 stakes race. He won the Ed Burke Million Futurity last year and finished second in both the Golden State Million and Los Alamitos Two Million Futurities. He was second to Alice K White in the Golden State Derby earlier this year. In his career he has finished first or second in 11 of 12 starts.

The first trial pitted the outstanding trio of All American Derby runner-up Fantastic Corona Jr, recent PCQHRA Breeders Derby winner Jessanotheraffair and Los Alamitos Two Million and Golden State Million futurity Tres Passes, ridden for the first time by young pilot Zacharie Kelsey. The race ended up being a dual between Fantastic Corona Jr and Jessanotheraffair with the former edging the latter by a nose in a winning time of :19.545 - the third fastest qualifying time of the night.

Fantastic Corona Jr on the way to winning his Super Derby trial

"Fantastic Corona Jr is simply a very nice horse," said Jones, who also saddled the John Andreini, Vince Genco and Gianna Samaja-owned colt by Corona Cartel. "He's a good horse, there's not much more I can say about him. He's always been a very consistent horse and maybe this year he's been running better in back to back races."

Last year, Fantastic Corona Jr was fifth in the Ed Burke and third in the "Deuce". This season he's been second in both the Los Alamitos Winter Derby and All American Derby. Ramon Sanchez has ridden him in 11 of his 12 starts, but he's also been aboard Foose in 11 of his 12 starts. Sanchez will have to make a choice, a spot that the veteran pilot has been in before. In the Ed Burke last year, Sanchez went with Foose and the two came out victorious. In the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, Sanchez went with Fantastic Corona Jr and the two finished third, just behind runner-up Foose in that race.

"There's always pressure to perform well," Sanchez said after piloting Fantastic Corona Jr. "You always, always want to do well. You just have to stay on an even keel and perform the best that you can. You just go out there and ride your best."

"Fantastic Corona Jr ran an outstanding race. He was battling with Jessanotheraffair early on but it seemed to me like we pulled away a little bit at the halfway point of the race before Jessanotheraffair made another run at us. He was a great race from start to finish."

Karen Bennett's Jessanotheraffair ran a super race while finishing second according to jockey G.R. Carter. "He broke great and I was as far away from Fantastic Corona Jr at the start of the race as I was at the end of the race, and there was not that much distance between the two of us. It was a good race and I couldn't be more pleased with Jessanotheraffair's effort. We got beat by a good horse in this race. We'll try to do better in the final."

Janet McKinnerney's Tres Passes, who was supplemented to this race, finished third in his trial but still managed to qualify with the ninth fastest time. Blane Schvaneveldt trains the career winner of six of 12 starts and $1,458,315.

"I thought he ran a good race," said jockey Zacharie Kelsey. "He got on his right lead and he seemed to be comfortable to me. This should sharpen him up for the final. We have three weeks from here to the final and I think he has a chance to be deadly in that race."

Hawking and Jimmy Delivers in action in the second Super Derby trial

Christian and Ru Anna Singletary's Hawking won the second trial while posting the second fastest qualifying time of :19.540. Sent off at 6-1 odds, the Hawkinson gelding was making only his second start of 2009.

"He had surgery in January because he had some bone chips," Christian Singletary said. "He needed to be cleaned up. We brought him back for the Rainbow Derby and All American Derby trials but he has not ready for those races. We decided to ship him back to Los Alamitos and point him to the Super Derby. In his first start of the year he hopped out of the gate, broke in and ended up fourth. He finally broke great in this race and really looked like he was ready to go. Horses will tell you when they are ready to do something for you. We're glad that we listened to what he was telling us.

"Skipping the Rainbow and All American turned out to be a good decision," he added. "Instead of pushing him hard and maybe wrecking the horse, we decided to give him his time. You always want to run in prestigious races, plus you pay in to become eligible so you hate to bypass them. But in the end we felt that the Los Alamitos Super Derby was a big enough race and when you looked at the money, with the Super Derby having a million dollar purse, there was not that much difference between the (combined purses of the) Rainbow and the All American and the purse of the Super Derby. And it's just nice to be in the winner's circle again."

Zacharie Kelsey piloted Hawking to his second win in six career starts. Chris O'Dell saddled the Jerry Windham-bred runner.

The complete list of qualifiers to the $1,000,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby is as follows: Foose (:19.51), Hawking (:19.54), Fantastic Corona Jr (:19.545), Jessanotheraffair (:19.555), Jimmy Delivers (:19.565), Cartels First Card (:19.590), Check Out Corona (:19.615), Double Out (:19.615), and Tres Passes (:19.635). The 10th and final spot will be decided between Mr B and Louisiana Senator, as they each received a final time of :19.645. Horses in the trials that did not qualify to the Super Derby have preference to run in the $30,000 Town Policy Handicap for 3-year-olds on Friday, November 6.

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