BUYMYLADYACORONA AND FULL BROTHER TO APOLLITICAL PENCE AMONG TRIAL WINNERS TO LOS ALAMITOS MAIDEN STAKES
A second consecutive daylight victory by Barron Racing LLC and Empire Racing’s Buymyladyacorona, a sensational maiden victory by Dunn Ranch’s promising colt known as Little Pence, and near wire-to-wire victory by William Smith’s Grade 1 stakes placed filly Political Royalty highlighted an entertaining night of trials to the $87,750 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes here on Sunday night.
A total of 33 sophomores competed in the four trials and the fastest of them all was Buymyladyacorona, a gelding by Corona Cartel, who posted a length victory in a winning time of :17.584 in the second of four trials at 350 yards. Purchased for $150,000 at Heritage Place, Buymyladyacorona will now lead the horses with the 10 fastest time in the Maiden final to be held on Sunday, February 26. Horses were eligible compete in the trials in they were maidens as of November 1, 2022.
Bred in Oklahoma by Flag Ranch LLC, Buymyladyacorona scored a victory prior to the trials, winning here at 300 yards by 1 ½ lengths on December 31. Ridden by Ruben Lozano for trainer Valentin Zamudio, he was third as the start of his trial before flying during the second half of the race to the tune of an impressive final 220 yards time of :09.46.
“We were all ready to go in the gates before one of the outside horses got antsy and all the other horses also moved,” Lozano said. “Everyone settled down and we left the gate nicely. He took the lead, and it was all good from there. I was talking to him after about 200 yards so that he would stay focused. He kept on going from there.”
Dunn Ranch’s Apollitical Victory enjoyed the largest winning margin, as he took the third trial by 1 ¾ lengths in the second fastest time of :17.647. It was the first win for the full brother of two-time Champion of Champions winner Apollitical Pence.
“We’ve liked this horse all along,” trainer Monty Arrossa said. “He’s had a few little issues. It’s taken him some time to grow up. We’ve always called him Little Pence and today he exhibited a lot of the qualities of his brother. He left there like a rocket. My mom called me and said, ‘He looks just like his big brother.’ He has big shoes to fill. I’m proud of him. It looked like he got a little green down towards the end. Maybe he needs some more experience, but how can you be disappointed with that? He ran super.”
Armando Cervantes piloted Apollitical Victory, who entered this race after dead heating for third in a trial to the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. The winner of that trial was All American Futurity winner Hes Judgeandjury, who would go on to run third in the Two Million.
“Armando did a good job in keeping him on task (in his Maiden trial),” Arrossa added. “He’s a neat little horse. He has a lot of the same qualities as Apollitical Pence. They like to train. (Apollitical Victory) loves to go to the track. He’s super aggressive. Tonight, he was a little hot in the paddock. He was really looking around and checking things out. I noticed that when he was warming up he looked pretty focused. He stood in the gate perfect. I couldn’t be any happier.”
Ridden by Jose Nicasio for trainer Heath Taylor, Political Royalty, who ran third in the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity, finished with the fourth fastest qualifying time of :17.800 after winning for the first time in her six lifetime outings. Also sired by Apollitical Jess, Political Royalty is out of the 2014 Grade 1, Rainbow Futurity winner Trendi. William Smith purchased Political Royalty for $250,000 at Heritage Place. Racing from post five, Political Royalty drifted in shortly after the start while increasing her lead from a head to ¾ lengths, an advantage she maintained through the wire.
“The four horse didn’t break at all and there wasn’t anything there, so she stepped into that hole and broke in a little bit,” Taylor explained. “She’s a real nice filly. We had her mother, and she won the Rainbow. I think (Political Royalty) has some potential, especially if she matures this year and especially being by Apollitical Jess. Hopefully she’ll have a good year. She ran nice third in the Golden State behind two super nice horses behind Party Politics and Cyber Attack. She outran Jeriko, who was fourth.
“She hadn’t run since November,” Taylor added. “We gave her a really light 220 breeze. I’m hoping she used the trial more like the work to hopefully be better for the final. It was kind of a calculated risk. We didn’t do much with her for the trials. Hopefully this will tighten her up after 90 days off.”
“I spoke to the owner. We were going to give her a rest, but she was eligible, so she fit the conditions for the race. She’s eligible for the Oaks races at Ruidoso and she’s eligible for some Oaks in Oklahoma. She had made some money by running third in the (Golden State Million) and she got black type. We thought this was a potential opportunity to maybe earn some money. We decided to stay out here and go for this before going for the Oaks over there.”
Fawna Knight, Gary Allred, and Leon Smith, and Tyler Christensen’s Dangerous Fella ran second to fastest qualifier Buymyladyacorona and earned a fast time himself. The runner-up in the Utah Bred Futurity finished with the third fastest qualifying time of :17.744. Henry Reynoso Lopez piloted the Foose gelding, who was saddled by Paul Jones.
The complete list of qualifiers is as follows: Buymyladyacorona (:17.584), Apollitical Victory (:17.647), Dangerous Fella (:17.744), Political Royalty (:17.800), Ojd Shez Gon Rogue (:17.848), Milenio (:17.852), Ketchum (:17.909), Don Lazaro (:17.914), Up The Interest (:17.930), and A Dream To Fill (:17.935). Six out of the 10 qualifiers came out of the trial won by Buymyladyacorona.
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