Sun:Grade 1 $167,900 Vessels Maturity at Los Al
Jul 5, 2013 20:39:05 GMT -5
Post by Jon on Jul 5, 2013 20:39:05 GMT -5
iz - MM - all - Thoughts? Plays?
The third automatic starting berth to the prestigious $750,000 Champion of Champions will be decided on Sunday night in the running of the Grade 1 $167,900 Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos. Ten outstanding older horses will be in action in the 400-yard race with the winner earning a ticket to the 440-yard Champion of Champions to be held on Saturday, December 14. The Vessels Maturity is scheduled as the ninth and final race on the Sunday card with first post set for 5:35 p.m.
As usual, the field to the Vessels Maturity is a terrific one. Heading it will be Shane O’Leary’s 2012 Los Alamitos Super Derby winner Deniro (left), who will be looking for a return trip to the Champion of Champions with a victory on Sunday. The 4-year-old gelding by Desirio was fifth in the Champion of Champions last year and after taking time off he returned with a ¾ length victory when facing a field that included Los Alamitos Winter Championship runner-up Bills Last in the first of two Vessels Maturity trials. Deniro comes in as the fastest qualifier after winning that trial race in a time of :19.465.
"He had a couple of surgeries after the Champion of Champions," said trainer Jose De La Torre. "We had a tight training schedule with him and everything had to go right. We almost didn't make (the Vessels Maturity trials)."
Deniro led every step of the way in his trial to record his sixth win in 14 career starts. He’ll enter the Vessels Maturity with $492,443 in career earnings. Six of the 10 qualifiers to the Vessels Maturity came out of this trial with Paul Blanchard’s Bills Last finishing as the third fastest qualifier following his runner-up trial effort. The son of Shazoom ran second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Championship earlier this year and he also finished third to Vessels Maturity finalist PK Fire in the Kaweah Bar Handicap on May 4.
Owned by Jesus Avila and Jesus Cuevas, the accomplished Last To Fire would love to earn his first ever stakes win in the Vessels Maturity. A winner of $592,027in his strong career, Last To Fire has finished in the top four in four different major Grade 1 races at Los Alamitos. As a 2-year-old, he ran second in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and third in the Golden State Million Futurity. He’ll enter the Vessels finale in good form after posting the second fastest qualifying time of :19.473 following his 1 1/4 length trial victory over the classy newcomer Jess Featureme Quick.
Melissa Miller’s Jess Featureme Quick will make his second career start at Los Alamitos in the Vessels finale. The son of Feature Mr Jess was second to Last To Fire in his local debut. The Paul Jones-trainee brings in an oustanding resume that includes five victories in 16 starts and earnings of more than $445,000. His biggest win came in last year’s Grade 3 Hobbs America Derby, but he also ran third to champion Ochoa in the Grade 1 All American Derby and second to Prospect To The Top in the Grade 1 The Championship at Sunland Park.
Gerardo Pasquel’s PK Fire is another top Vessels Maturity contender and he’s already a two-time stakes winner at Los Alamitos. In addition to winning the aforementioned Kaweah Bar Handicap, the gelding by Walk Thru Fire won the 2011 El Primero Del Ano Derby. He also ran third in last year’s Vessels Maturity and also finished third in the 2011 Go Man Go Handicap. Jaime Gomez trains PK Fire.
Edward and Theresa DeNike’s Hit It Big is no stranger to major Quarter Horse races after running sixth in the $2,236,300 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity against the field that included Last To Fire in 2011. Hit It Big ran third to Deniro in their Vessels trial. Patricia Visscher will saddle the Walk Thru Fire gelding.
Angel Villalobos’ Queens R Blue is the only mare running in the Vessels Maturity. A six-time winner in her career, Queens R Blue was fourth in her Vessels trial, but prior to that effort she was second to multiple stakes winner Check N Fetch in the Miss Princess Handicap. Gomez will saddle the Shazoom mare, who’ll look to become the first distaffer to win the Vessels Maturity since Five Bar Molly in 2007. Ovidio Ferreira’s Chicks Boudro is a three-time winner at Los Alamitos has also competed in five previous stakes races here. He finished third in last year’s PCQHRA Breeders Derby and also ran in the Governor’s Cup Derby. Dan Francisco trains Chicks Boudro, who dead-heated with Perfect Place for fifth place in their Vessels trial.
Jose Luis Martinez’s Perfect Place ran third in the Barbra B Handicap earlier this season and was the runner-up in the Wine Country Derby at Santa Rosa and Jack Clifford Stakes and Jack Robinson Handicap at Pleasanton last year. Guillermo Morales trains Perfect Place. Carlos Eduardo Velazquez’s Gone With A Win will complete the field while looking for his fifth win at Los Alamitos since July 7, 2012. The son of Voghts Gold ran third in the Katella Handicap earlier this year and was an impressive allowance winner for trainer Jose De La Torre on February 15.
Los Al Site
Race 9 - 8:47 PM $1 Exacta / $1 Trifecta $1 Superfecta (.10 cent minimum wager) (Quarter Horse) MATURITY Vessels Maturity (Grade I)
Purse $167,900. For Four Year Olds And Upward. 124 Lbs. (No Sex Allowance). Four Hundred Yards.
P# PP Horse Virtual
Stable A/S Med Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1 Last to Fire (CA) 4/G BL F C Rubio 124 J De La Torre 5/2
2 2 Jess Featureme Quick (TX) 4/G BL R Sanchez 124 P C Jones 9/2
3 3 Pk Fire (NM) 5/G BL R Aceves 124 J H Gomez 8/1
4 4 Gone With a Win (OK) 4/C BL C Mendez 124 J De La Torre 15/1
5 5 Hit It Big (CA) 4/G BL O M Peinado 124 P D Visscher 20/1
6 6 Queens R Blue (OK) 5/M BL G Arriaga 124 J H Gomez 20/1
7 7 Deniro (WA) 4/G BL E Nicasio 124 J De La Torre 8/5
8 8 Bills Last (TX) 4/G BL E S Garcia 124 P C Jones 8/1
9 9 Chicks Boudro (CA) 4/C BL C DeAlba 124 D C Francisco 20/1
10 10 Perfect Place (CA) 4/C BL J P Andrade 124 G Morales 30/1
Owners: 1 - Jesus Avila and Jesus Cuevas; 2 - Melissa Miller; 3 - Jerardo Pasquel; 4 - Carlos Eduardo Velazquez; 5 - Theresa or Edward DeNike; 6 - Angel H. Villalobos; 7 - Shane O'Leary; 8 - Paul Blanchard; 9 - Ovidio V. Ferreira; 10 - Jose Luis Martinez
Breeders: 1 - Estate Of Spencer Childers; 2 - Melissa Ann Miller; 3 - Mike Abraham; 4 - Johnny M Patterson; 5 - Edward C Allred; 6 - Newcomb Cattle Co/Micah Leslie; 7 - Gregory B & M Renee Hickman; 8 - Jerry Windham; 9 - Pazazz Quarterhorses Ltd; 10 - Vinewood Farms
Equibase
The third automatic starting berth to the prestigious $750,000 Champion of Champions will be decided on Sunday night in the running of the Grade 1 $167,900 Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos. Ten outstanding older horses will be in action in the 400-yard race with the winner earning a ticket to the 440-yard Champion of Champions to be held on Saturday, December 14. The Vessels Maturity is scheduled as the ninth and final race on the Sunday card with first post set for 5:35 p.m.
As usual, the field to the Vessels Maturity is a terrific one. Heading it will be Shane O’Leary’s 2012 Los Alamitos Super Derby winner Deniro (left), who will be looking for a return trip to the Champion of Champions with a victory on Sunday. The 4-year-old gelding by Desirio was fifth in the Champion of Champions last year and after taking time off he returned with a ¾ length victory when facing a field that included Los Alamitos Winter Championship runner-up Bills Last in the first of two Vessels Maturity trials. Deniro comes in as the fastest qualifier after winning that trial race in a time of :19.465.
"He had a couple of surgeries after the Champion of Champions," said trainer Jose De La Torre. "We had a tight training schedule with him and everything had to go right. We almost didn't make (the Vessels Maturity trials)."
Deniro led every step of the way in his trial to record his sixth win in 14 career starts. He’ll enter the Vessels Maturity with $492,443 in career earnings. Six of the 10 qualifiers to the Vessels Maturity came out of this trial with Paul Blanchard’s Bills Last finishing as the third fastest qualifier following his runner-up trial effort. The son of Shazoom ran second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Championship earlier this year and he also finished third to Vessels Maturity finalist PK Fire in the Kaweah Bar Handicap on May 4.
Owned by Jesus Avila and Jesus Cuevas, the accomplished Last To Fire would love to earn his first ever stakes win in the Vessels Maturity. A winner of $592,027in his strong career, Last To Fire has finished in the top four in four different major Grade 1 races at Los Alamitos. As a 2-year-old, he ran second in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and third in the Golden State Million Futurity. He’ll enter the Vessels finale in good form after posting the second fastest qualifying time of :19.473 following his 1 1/4 length trial victory over the classy newcomer Jess Featureme Quick.
Melissa Miller’s Jess Featureme Quick will make his second career start at Los Alamitos in the Vessels finale. The son of Feature Mr Jess was second to Last To Fire in his local debut. The Paul Jones-trainee brings in an oustanding resume that includes five victories in 16 starts and earnings of more than $445,000. His biggest win came in last year’s Grade 3 Hobbs America Derby, but he also ran third to champion Ochoa in the Grade 1 All American Derby and second to Prospect To The Top in the Grade 1 The Championship at Sunland Park.
Gerardo Pasquel’s PK Fire is another top Vessels Maturity contender and he’s already a two-time stakes winner at Los Alamitos. In addition to winning the aforementioned Kaweah Bar Handicap, the gelding by Walk Thru Fire won the 2011 El Primero Del Ano Derby. He also ran third in last year’s Vessels Maturity and also finished third in the 2011 Go Man Go Handicap. Jaime Gomez trains PK Fire.
Edward and Theresa DeNike’s Hit It Big is no stranger to major Quarter Horse races after running sixth in the $2,236,300 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity against the field that included Last To Fire in 2011. Hit It Big ran third to Deniro in their Vessels trial. Patricia Visscher will saddle the Walk Thru Fire gelding.
Angel Villalobos’ Queens R Blue is the only mare running in the Vessels Maturity. A six-time winner in her career, Queens R Blue was fourth in her Vessels trial, but prior to that effort she was second to multiple stakes winner Check N Fetch in the Miss Princess Handicap. Gomez will saddle the Shazoom mare, who’ll look to become the first distaffer to win the Vessels Maturity since Five Bar Molly in 2007. Ovidio Ferreira’s Chicks Boudro is a three-time winner at Los Alamitos has also competed in five previous stakes races here. He finished third in last year’s PCQHRA Breeders Derby and also ran in the Governor’s Cup Derby. Dan Francisco trains Chicks Boudro, who dead-heated with Perfect Place for fifth place in their Vessels trial.
Jose Luis Martinez’s Perfect Place ran third in the Barbra B Handicap earlier this season and was the runner-up in the Wine Country Derby at Santa Rosa and Jack Clifford Stakes and Jack Robinson Handicap at Pleasanton last year. Guillermo Morales trains Perfect Place. Carlos Eduardo Velazquez’s Gone With A Win will complete the field while looking for his fifth win at Los Alamitos since July 7, 2012. The son of Voghts Gold ran third in the Katella Handicap earlier this year and was an impressive allowance winner for trainer Jose De La Torre on February 15.
Los Al Site
Race 9 - 8:47 PM $1 Exacta / $1 Trifecta $1 Superfecta (.10 cent minimum wager) (Quarter Horse) MATURITY Vessels Maturity (Grade I)
Purse $167,900. For Four Year Olds And Upward. 124 Lbs. (No Sex Allowance). Four Hundred Yards.
P# PP Horse Virtual
Stable A/S Med Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1 Last to Fire (CA) 4/G BL F C Rubio 124 J De La Torre 5/2
2 2 Jess Featureme Quick (TX) 4/G BL R Sanchez 124 P C Jones 9/2
3 3 Pk Fire (NM) 5/G BL R Aceves 124 J H Gomez 8/1
4 4 Gone With a Win (OK) 4/C BL C Mendez 124 J De La Torre 15/1
5 5 Hit It Big (CA) 4/G BL O M Peinado 124 P D Visscher 20/1
6 6 Queens R Blue (OK) 5/M BL G Arriaga 124 J H Gomez 20/1
7 7 Deniro (WA) 4/G BL E Nicasio 124 J De La Torre 8/5
8 8 Bills Last (TX) 4/G BL E S Garcia 124 P C Jones 8/1
9 9 Chicks Boudro (CA) 4/C BL C DeAlba 124 D C Francisco 20/1
10 10 Perfect Place (CA) 4/C BL J P Andrade 124 G Morales 30/1
Owners: 1 - Jesus Avila and Jesus Cuevas; 2 - Melissa Miller; 3 - Jerardo Pasquel; 4 - Carlos Eduardo Velazquez; 5 - Theresa or Edward DeNike; 6 - Angel H. Villalobos; 7 - Shane O'Leary; 8 - Paul Blanchard; 9 - Ovidio V. Ferreira; 10 - Jose Luis Martinez
Breeders: 1 - Estate Of Spencer Childers; 2 - Melissa Ann Miller; 3 - Mike Abraham; 4 - Johnny M Patterson; 5 - Edward C Allred; 6 - Newcomb Cattle Co/Micah Leslie; 7 - Gregory B & M Renee Hickman; 8 - Jerry Windham; 9 - Pazazz Quarterhorses Ltd; 10 - Vinewood Farms
Equibase
