LONDON TOBY WINS BE A BONO STAKES, VESSELS MATURITY IS NEXT
Ed Allred’s London Toby followed his victory in the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship with a solid win in the $25,000 Be A Bono Stakes here on Sunday night.
Making his first start since that February win, London Toby bumped at the start of the Be A Bono before settling into his stride and powering away from his rival to win the 400-yard dash by ¾ lengths. The son of Favorite Cartel out of London Laura covered the distance in :19.820 while improving to seven wins in 17 starts. He is trained by Scott Willoughby and was ridden by Gabriel Lara.
The Be A Bono served as a prep for the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity to be held at Los Alamitos on Sunday, July 7. The winner of the Vessels Maturity earns a provisional berth to the Champion of Champions, an accolade already earned by London Toby thanks to his Winter Championship victory. Nevertheless, the Allred-bred is now ready for the Vessels final after this winning effort.
“It couldn’t be any better,” Willoughby said. “We didn’t have trials for the Vessels and he needed a race. He had not run since the (February). This was a perfect spot for him and Gabriel did a great job with him. He kind of didn’t get away from the gate a little bit, Gabriel picked him up and let him run. He finished extremely strong. I’m very happy with him going into the big race.”
London Toby earned $13,750 to take his career earnings to $208,806.
Steve Holt and Jeff Jones’ Hes Judgeandjury earned $5,625 for running second in the Be A Bono. The winner of the 2022 All American Futurity has now earned $1,979,286 in his 17-race career. Fortunate Corona ran third and was followed by Normandy, Edberg Verde, Terrific Phoenix, and Dont Sass KVN.
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