Following a good start, Ed Allred’s homebred Monopolist (photo) took off a few strides later like a race car looking advance to Boardwalk, finishing powerfully to win his racing debut by ¾ lengths over a promising field of 2-year-olds in the seventh race on Friday at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Erasmo Gasca for trainer James Glenn, Jr., Monopolist covered the 300-yards in :15.778 while becoming the latest son of Favorite Cartel to win at Los Alamitos. Out of the stakes winning mare Nymph, Monopolist came into this race after a pair of solid morning preps at Los Alamitos that impressed his connections.
“We have really liked him,” Glenn, Jr. said. “The first time we qualified him, he just stood there and went :12.60. That is when we knew he could run. We brought him back and he went :12.4 under a big hold. We have never turned him loose. We were just waiting for tonight. When they said ‘go’ he took off. He was eligible to run in the Kindergarten trials, but Dr. Allred decided to skip the Kindergarten and go for the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity instead. I am glad he made that decision. We can be patient and take our time for the Ed Burke. This horse is smart, sound and looks good. Hopefully, he can keep doing well.”
Scott Bryant, Shaun Hubbard and Ray Willis’ Baby Boy Deluxe finished a promising second in this event. The colt by One Famous Eagle is out of Corona Deluxe and was purchased by $70,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. He is a full brother to Reagal Eagle, who ran second in the All American Futurity. Chris O’Dell saddled the Grant Farms-bred runner.
O’Dell was in the winner’s circle about 25 minutes earlier on Friday night thanks to A Solid Reason, a filly owned by Marcos Leite of Haras Portofino. Sired by Good Reason SA and out of Strawfly Lady, A Solid Reason won the sixth race on the card by a neck over Ralph Newcomb’s Celtic Rhythm in a time of :15.740. The winning filly was purchased for $100,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale.
“I loved this filly at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale,” O’Dell said. “Mr. Leite eventually decided to purchase the filly and I am glad that she has started her career with a nice victory. Mr. Leite sent me some other horses that have shown some run. He is a good client and Los Alamitos needs more owners like him.”
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