Owner/breeder Ed Allred and trainer Scott Willoughby combined to sweep the top three spots in the $185,000 Governor’s Cup Derby led by fastest qualifier Nomadic and his nearly flawless effort on the way to winning the 400-yard dash on Sunday night at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Vinnie Bednar, the son of Favorite Cartel was sharp right from the start, taking an early lead while dueling with Grade 1 Golden State Futurity winner Runforyourlife for the first half of the race. Soon after that, Nomadic took total control of the race, taking a half-length advantage before finishing powerfully to score a ¾ length victory ahead of stablemate Up For Speed in a time of :19.615. Just Be Real finished third to complete the derby trifecta for Allred and Willoughby.
“He was doing fantastic after the trials,” Willoughby said. “All my horses were doing really well. Up For Speed on the outside ran a great race. The gray horse (Just Be Real) ran a big race and even (Bono Is Good) down on the inside got away well and ran a big race as well.”
Bono Is Good, the fourth horse from Allred’s stable in this race, fought gamely early on before crossing the wire eight.
“(Nomadic) is fit and ready to run,” Willoughby said. “After the Los Alamitos Two Million when he had a little bit of trouble at the gate and ran fourth, we came and he just didn’t fire in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby final. We gave him some time off and it worked out well. I really thought he could win (the Two Million) after he had the fastest time, but he got into a little bit of trouble and you can’t spot them great horses like that and run them down very often.”
The last time Allred won the Governor’s Cup Derby was in 2008 with Really A First and the owner had a total of four horses in that derby as well. In addition to winning with Really A First, Allred also had third place finisher My Buddie, fifth place finisher Freaky and eighth place finisher Dreaming Sweet.
Meanwhile, finishing 1-2-3 in Sunday’s Governor’s Cup Derby is a result to remember. Up next for Nomadic will be the trials to the PCQHRA Breeders Derby on September 12. He’s also eligible to compete in the trials to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby on October 17.
The 4-5 favorite in the Governor’s Cup, Nomadic earned $75,600 for the win to take his career earnings to $243,998. He also improved his record to five wins in 10 career starts.
Up For Speed, ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala, earned $30,600 for his runner-up effort. He A winner in his Governors’ Cup Derby trial, the Favorite Cartel gelding has now earned $80,428 in his 12 career starts. He competed in last year’s Governor’s Cup Futurity and PCQHRA Breeders Futurity.
Just Be Real, the winner of the Autumn Handicap last year and a Los Alamitos Winter Derby finalist this year, crossed the wire third with Oscar Andrade, Jr. up. The son of Walk Thru Fire earned $21,600. The top three finishers were followed across the wire by Runforyourlife, Javelina Cantina, Cattail Cove, Fayvorite Chick, Bono Is Good and Fire By Night. Close To It was scratched.
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