GENTRY FARMS’ BEACH WALK HAS FASTEST TIME TO GRADE 1 LOS ALAMITOS OAKS
The list of outstanding fillies to race for Gentry Farms and to qualify to major graded stakes races at Los Alamitos is an impressive one. Since 2000, Gentry Farms been represented at Los Alamitos by the likes of AQHA champions Kiss Thru Fire and Fearless Moon plus standouts like College Scandal, Heartbeat, In My Heart, Ohana Spirit, Separate Heart.
Go farther back to the Gentry family’s Quarter Horse racing roots, the names continue to shine with the likes of Such An Easy Effort, Fearless Freda, Fovee, Fredaville, Fodice, Dasha Freda, Easy Kiss and countless more.
Gentry Farms added two more fillies to its list of graded stakes runners after homebreds Beach Walk (left) and Bold And Beautiful posted the first and third fastest qualifying times to the Grade 1, $430,000 Los Alamitos Oaks on Saturday night. Ridden by Martin Arriaga and trained by Juan Aleman, the two Kentucky-bred fillies were outstanding in the 400-yard trials. They will now lead a field of 10 sophomore fillies in the Oaks final to be held at Los Alamitos on Saturday, March 22.
Sired by Freighttrain B and out of the Tres Seis filly Heartbeat, Beach Walk posted the top time of :19.929 after outdueling Ed Allred’s Call Her Perfect by a ½ length in the third of four trials. Beach Walk, who two races back won her trial to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity but just missed qualifying to the final, will now make her stakes debut as one of the favorites in the richest race for fillies to be held this year at Los Alamitos. Her mother, the very lightly raced Heartbeat, was a Grade 1 finalist here having qualified for the 2016 Ed Burke Million Futurity. Aleman trained Heartbeat during her racing career.
“It just goes back to the family,” Aleman said of Beach Walk’s success. “I had the pleasure of training her mother and a lot of her daughters. Heartbeat was a real fast filly with a lot of heart. She’s just passed it on to her daughter. That family, you just can’t beat it. They have a lot of heart just like the name of their mother.”
Bold N Beautiful posted a strong effort in the opening trial and finished only a nose behind multiple Grade 1 finalist Apolitical Chilitas. Bold N Beautiful finished with a time of :19.970, a clocking that was only behind her stablemate Beach Walk’s time and Apolitical Chilitas’ winning time of :19.962. Bold N Beautiful entered this race after winning a maiden event on January 19. She finished in the money in three futurity trials during her juvenile campaign, but the Oaks will be her first stakes final. Also sired by Freighttrain B, Bold N Beautiful is out of the mare Always Dreaming, who was a winner for Aleman at Los Alamitos and a finalist in the 2019 La Primera Del Ano Derby, a race that would become the Los Alamitos Oaks.
Bold N Beautiful’s granddam is the $380,000 earner and multiple graded stakes winner Fovee, while Beach Walk’s granddam is the $262,000 earner and multiple stakes winner Fearless Freda.
Owned by Licon Farm and Ranch LLC, Apolitical Chilitas (right) enjoyed her third victory in 10 career starts, but first win at Los Alamitos following this hard-fought effort. Bred by Omar Paredes, the filly by Apollitical Jess ran in both the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity following second place finishes in her respective trials to those races. Jose Flores trains the Oklahoma-bred, who was ridden by Cruz Mendez from post number one.
“She’s done some great things for us,” Flores said. “She qualified to both of those great futurities here, but unfortunately, she didn’t have that great of a go in the Two Million (running 10th). The one thing about her is that she’s always so valiant and tries her heart out.
“I really want to thank Licon Farm for giving me the opportunity to train her. We looked at her at Ruidoso when she was a yearling and we loved her. She’s now showing what she can be. I love her and I think she’s due for a lot of great things in her future. I’m not a big fan of the inside posts, but she got out there fast and got the job done.”
Allred’s homebred Call Her Perfect finished as the fourth fastest qualifier with a time of :19.992 following her second place finish against the fastest qualifier. Out of the TR Dasher mare Without Fault, Call Her Perfect was sired by Favorite Cartel. Trained by Scott Willoughby and ridden by Gabriel Lara, Call Her Perfect will be making her stakes debut in the Oaks final on March 22.
Trainer Eddie Willis saddled the other two trial winners in Abel Flores and James Sills’ homebred Shaken Goin On and Reliance Ranches’ Hott Temptation. Also sired by Freighttrain B, Shaken Goin On had the fifth fastest time of :20.029 after winning the second trial. She arrived at Los Alamitos after running in a pair of big money futurities at Will Rodgers Downs.
“She’s a homebred and we raised her,” Willis said. “I ran her momma and grandma. I brought her out here and paid her late to make her eligible to this race. She’s a really good filly.”
Hott Temptation got in as the 10th fastest qualifier in a time of :20.131. Out of the great broodmare Pandorum, Hott Temptation is a filly by Tempting Dash bred by Fulton Quien Sabe Ranches LP. She entered the trials after running second to Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby runner-up Train B Taka in the Holiday Handicap on opening night of this meet.
“I didn’t have her all of last year,” Willis said. “We gave some time off after we got her last year. She’s going to get really good I think.”
Justin Klaiber piloted both Shaken Goin On and Hott Temptation.
The complete list of qualifiers is as follows: Beach Walk (:19.929), Apolitical Chilitas (:19.962), Bold N Beautiful (:19.970), Call Her Perfect (:19.992), Shaken Goin On (:20.029), Elizabeth Alexandria (:20.089), Powerful Wise Lady (:20.101), Streakin Sis (:20.109), Up To Party (:20.127), and Hott Temptation (:20.131).
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