WATCH OUT AND NEW AND BETTER ARE SIRE FLY THRU THE FIRE’S FIRST TWO WINNERS
Stablemates Watch Out and New And Better gave Hall of Fame owner and breeder Ed Allred wins in the first two races for 2-year-olds of the year at Los Alamitos Race Course, and just as important for Allred, the wins were also the first ever for first-year sire Fly Thru The Fire.
Trained by James Glenn, Jr. and ridden by Henry Reynoso Lopez, Watch Out (left) had the honor of winning the meet’s first juvenile race, as the half-brother to 2019 AQHA World Champion He Looks Hot won the fourth race on Friday night by a length at 220 yards. His winning time was :12.375.
“I really like this (gelding),” Glenn said. “He’s going to run 400, 440. This is like our second qualifier, but they had a lot of base put in them. We felt they would have no problem coming back tonight. Henry said he was just classy and handled himself nicely. He had a lot of horse and he just took care of him down through there. We are on to his next race.”
Watch Out is Fly Thru The Fire’s first winner, but his first starter came on March 8 at Remington Park when Fly Donna Fly posted a second place finish in a futurity trial. Owned in partnership by Allred and Dr. Steve Burns, Fly Thru The Fire stands a Burns Ranch for $2,500. He earned $144,125 in his career was a 400-yard track record holder. He defeated two-time AQHA World Champion Jessies First Down in the 2016 City of Hialeah Stakes. Fly Thru The Fire is a half-brother to Grade 1 winners Rock You and Little Talks plus standouts Ali Babe Foose and Glock.
“I’ve been telling (Dr. Allred) that I think we’re in business with Fly Thru The Fire,” Glenn said. “We didn’t know what to expect, but once we started putting the breezes on his babies, they showed a lot of quickness. I broke a bunch of them early on and they were a little strong to break. The more pressure I put on them, the smarter they go. I like that in a horse. You never know until you get to the races and put the pressure of them. We are off to a good start tonight.”
New And Better, who is half-brother to multiple graded stakes winner New Look, won by a neck from post number one and did so in the fastest time of the two of :12.206 at 220 yards. The sorrel gelding encountered some trouble early on, but he came flying at the end and continued to show a lot of spunk even after the finish line and through his gallop out.
“He’s not trying to buck,” Glenn said. “What he’s doing is that when the rider is trying to pull him up, he’s like ‘No, I want to keep going.’ He’s fighting to keep going. You just have to keep your hands low and hope that the other horses get away from you and he’ll just come back to you. He’s very competitive. When we turn him and work him, we always work them at 5:30 a.m. while under the lights. These lights here are no big deal to us. We turn and work them all and however sets we get, we go from 5:30 a.m. until the morning break. He was always on the inside and Watch Out was always on the outside. When we drew the rail, it didn’t bother me. I think he likes down there.
Los Alamitos has three more juvenile races scheduled for Saturday evening and one on Sunday night. Saturday morning will feature gate works, which will be posted for viewing on the demand later this weekend on the track’s website LosAlamitos.com.
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