GO MAN GO HANDICAP

COURTESY OF LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE


COUNTRY CHICKS MAN & ANGELAS TOAST CO-HIGHWEIGHTS FOR GRADE 1, GO MAN GO

Reigning champion aged stallion Country Chicks Man and Bayou invader Angelas Toast have been assigned co-highweight of 126 pounds to the Grade 1, $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap for 3-year-olds and upward to be held on Saturday, September 15. Eighteen horses were nominated to the 400-yard race.


Country Chicks Man arrived at Los Alamitos on Thursday evening and now looks ready to compete in the Go Man Go at 400 yards according to breeder, owner and trainer Sparky Mullins. "He will run in the Go Man Go - that's a certainty," Mullins said on Saturday afternoon. "We hauled him in - it was a two-day trip. I think he's going to do well."

Country Chicks Man, a 6-year-old stallion by Chicks Beduino out of Country Zevi, has won six of eight starts last season, while earning $442,010 in those starts. He's posted speed indexes of 100 or higher in 12 of his last 13 outings. He had a 99-speed index in that lone non-triple digit race. Country Chicks Man ran third in last year's Champion of Champions. His top stakes wins include the 2007 Remington Park Championship and 2006 Refrigerator Handicap.

Candy Villarreal's Angelas Toast has been on the grounds for approximately two weeks according to officials at Los Alamitos Race Course and is also slated to run in the Go Man Go. The 4-year-old gelding by Toast To Dash will make his first start ever at Los Alamitos. He's won 14 of his last 16 starts, including the Bank Of America East Challenge Championship. That victory made him eligible to run the $300,000 Bank Of America Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos on November 3. Ezequiel Villarreal trains the Brad Hart-bred Angelas Toast.

LDS Dash For Dylan, who is also Bank Of America-bound after winning the Northwest Challenge, and Grade 1 Vessels Maturity runner-up Go Love A Lark Go have each been assigned 125 pounds. Leading Spirit, the champion 2-year-old gelding in 2005, Soul Of Silence, the winner of the Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap, Spike It And Fly, runner-up in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship earlier this season, and the multiple Grade 1 stakes placed runner He Storms have each been assigned 124 pounds. Leading Spirit and Spike It And Fly are both trained by champion conditioner Paul Jones.

"Leading Spirit really ran a good race when he finished third in the Bank Of America California Challenge Championship," Jones said. "If you remember the horses had to be reloaded and I think that took the fire out of him. He still ran a good third against a real tough field and still don't think he ran his best race on that night. Leading Spirit looks great coming into this race."

Jones saddled last year's champion 3-year-old gelding Strawkins to victory in the Bank Of America California regional, however, he will not run in the Go Man Go despite being one of the 18 nominees. "He's in the Bank Of America Challenge Championship and we also want to run in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship," Jones said. "We want to keep him strong for those races later this year and that's why we've decided to skip the Go Man Go."

Owned by Don or Peggy Boyle, Strawkins was one of two horses assigned 123 pounds. Champion and millionaire FDD Dynasty, whose plans for syndication were announced earlier this week, has also been assigned 123 pounds. Startlet Hawk, who ran the second fastest 350-yard race ever at Los Alamitos of :17.18 in his last start, has been assigned 122 pounds. Value The Man, winner of the 2005 Los Alamitos Million Futurity, is at 121 pounds. The rest of the weights are as follows; Cut The Snow (120), Aladim Bryan Sa (119), Dicey Dee (119), Furyofthewind (119), El Corona Ariero (118), and Tinys Lil Sis (118).


-30-

wow this is gonna be great. Im glad I got on here in time. Thanks Smokey.

heres the pps

http://www.losalamitos.com/laqhr/pocket/20010915.pdf

Hi Justin: Probably stupid but I'm pulling for Leading Spirit and Angelas Toast to go 1-2................

OH WELL, THEY WENT 2 AND 4 WHICH IS OK. LEADING SPIRIT GOT PUSHED IN BY ANGELAS TOAST AND HE DIDN'T LOSE BY MUCH MORE THAN A VERY SHORT NOSE. HE'LL WIN HIS NEXT RACE NOT TOO BAD TO LOSE TO FDD DYNASTY !!


Go Man Go Handicap(G1)
$110,350, Los Alamitos, Sep 15, 3 year-olds & up, 400 yards

1. Fdd Dynasty, b. c. 3, by First Down Dash--Dinastia Toll Brz, by Tolltac, Bred by Vessels Sf/Fakri Fm L Partner (CA). Owner- Vessels Stallion Farm LLC, Guthrie and Smith. Trainer-Michael W. Joiner. Jockey-Samuel Harold Thompson.

2. Leading Spirit, b. g. 4, by Special Leader--Sandras Task, by Special Task, Bred by Barry B Thompson (TX). Owner- Thompson, Barry B. and Urschel, Dan and Jolene. Trainer-Paul C. Jones. Jockey-Cody Jensen.

3. Go Love a Lark Go, b. g. 5, by Love a Lark--Picture Me Gone, by Deregulate, Bred by Gale E Searle (UT). Owner-Erasmo Hernandez. Trainer-Hector Jaime Hernandez. Jockey-Jeff Williams.

Margins: no, ½, no
Value to winner: $55,175 2nd $18,759 3rd $11,035
Time: 19.620
Track: Fast

Ya the first four ran really good races. FDD Dynasty, its scary how fast he is. The only 3year old in the race and winning against some of the best horses in the country, thats pretty impressive. CCM looked pretty dull, wasn't striding very far at the end. Maybe that haul took its toll on him, I don't know.

COURTESY OF LOS ALAMITOS AND STALLIONESEARCH



FDD Dynasty (#3) noses out Leading Spirit (#1) at the wire in the Go Man Go Handicap(G1).
Photo by Scott Martinez

Fdd Dynasty Holds Off Leading Spirit in Go Man Go



LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA—SEPTEMBER 13, 2007—Talk about perfect timing. FDD Dynasty became only the seventh 3-year-old to win the prestigious Grade 1 Go Man Go Handicap, winning the 400-yard race less than two weeks after his owners unveiled their plans to syndicate him in 2008 at Vessels Stallion Farm.

Owned by Pat Guthrie, Billy Smith and Frank "Scoop" and Bonnie Vessels, FDD Dynasty's nose victory over 2005 champion 2-year-old gelding Leading Spirit only raises his status as one of the most exciting new stallion prospects for 2008.

Ridden by Sam Thompson, the 2006 champion 2-year-old colt, who last year won the Ed Burke Million Futurity and finished second in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, covered the Go Man Go distance in :19.62. Other runners that competed in this race included third place finishers Go Love A Lark Go, a multiple stakes winner here this season, the Louisiana-bred superstar Angelas Toast, who ran a solid fourth, and multiple Grade 1 winner Startlet Hawk, and last year's champion aged stallion Country Chicks Man.

FDD Dynasty, who was the only 3-year-old in this race, came in fresh off his win in the Governor's Cup Derby on July 28. The son of First Down Dash was ready for the challenge, as he recovered from a bumped break to become the first sophomore to win the Go Man Go since champion gelding Four Forty Blast in 1993. No colt had won this race since World Champion Mr Jet Moore in 1972 and the only other colt to win it was champion Tonto Bars Hank, who did it in 1960.

The other sophomores to win this prestigious race, which is now in its 57th running, are World Champion Goetta (1964), champion Go Derussa Go (1968), and World Champion Charger Bar (1971). Go Man Go sired the fillies Goetta and Go Derussa Go. Incidentally, the name of Go Man Go appears in FDD Dynasty's pedigree in the fifth generation on the paternal side.

FDD Dynasty's appearance in the Go Man Go lineup surprised a few observers, including Scoop Vessels. "When Billy and Pat and trainers Mike and Cody Joiner decided to go in this direction with FDD Dynasty, I did not question it," said Vessels. "They've always made all the scheduling decisions with this horse and they've done a great job. They knew what they were doing when they entered him in this race.

"FDD Dynasty raced against a great crop of two-year-olds last year and he became a champion," Vessels continued. "This year's he's proven himself against horses of his own age and against older horses, beating a great group in this race. I am proud of this horse and proud of the great work that the Joiners have done preparing this horse. This win could not have come at a better time now that we've announced our plans to syndicate him."

Vessels added that it's not too late to be part of the FDD Dynasty syndicate.

"We're keeping a list breeders that have contacted us and we're still going," he said.

A few minutes after exiting the winner's circle, Vessels received a phone call from Billy Smith, who took time away from his vacation to catch the running of the Go Man Go.

"He's in Italy right now, somewhere on the east side of the country," Vessels said.

Courtesy of Vessels and his cell phone, Billy was kind enough to share his thoughts on his colt's victory.

"That was unbelievable," he said. "We decided to go after this race because it serves as the first alternate race for the Champion of Champions. We also think that this race will set him up perfectly for the trials to the Los Alamitos Super Derby later this year."

Vessels was part of the partnership on last year's World Champion Wave Carver, who won the Super Derby before winning the Champion of Champions. How does FDD Dynasty compare to last year's King of the Hill?

"He took a big step to being the next Wave Carver tonight," Vessels said. "FDD Dynasty will stand at our place next year. We think that if there ever could be another First Down Dash, that this horse has the capability to be his replacement. I've always loved FDD Dynasty's looks and his pedigree."

It was also a very sweet victory for jockey Sam Thompson, who had not ridden FDD Dynasty since piloting him to his maiden victory on May of 2006.

"He slipped a little leaving the gate. Fortunately, I had room to run through," Thompson added. "He was G.R. Carter's horse all along and I knew that even before I rode him in his debut. G.R. had to make a decision on which horse to ride tonight and when he took off FDD Dynasty, the opportunity came up for me. Even though I hadn't ridden him in a race in a while, I had ridden him several times in the morning workouts. He's the type of horse that any jockey would love to ride."

FDD Dynasty earned $55,175 in this race to take his career earnings to $1,073,001. Bred by Fakri Family Partnership and Vessels Stallion Farm, FDD Dynasty was purchased for $70,000 at the 2005 Los Alamitos Equine Sale. Now a winner of eight of 10 career starts, FDD Dynasty is out of the Grade 1 winning mare Dinastia Toll.

Dan and Joleen. Urschel and Barry Thompson's Leading Spirit earned $18,759 to raise his career earnings to $725,028. Leading Spirit is enjoying some outstanding results in his first ever campaign at Los Alamitos, as prior to this runner-up effort he ran third in the Bank of America California Challenge Championship. Trainer Paul Jones believes that the best is still to come from Leading Spirit.

"He missed the break tonight," Jones said. "He was leaning back when they kicked it. (Angelas Toast) had him beat about a length. Leading Spirit eventually ran past Angelas Toast and he only missed winning this race by a nose. (Jockey Cody Jensen) said that just as Leading Spirit and (Angelas Toast) were running past the gap, (jockey Alfonso Lujan) raised his whip with his left hand and it came close to Leading Spirit's head. Cody said that Leading Spirit shied away from the whip and that caused him to stop a little bit.

"My horse made a couple of little mistakes. The winner didn't make any mistakes and that's what it takes to win these type of races. I'm still very happy with Leading Spirit's performance. You can't complain when your horse finishes second against such a great field."

Leading Spirit will likely make his next start in the running of the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship on October 13.

"This horse is going to get better," Jones added. "Hopefully he runs his best race in the Champion of Champions. That's what we're hoping for."

Erasmo Hernandez's Go Love A Lark Go, ridden by Jeff Williams for trainer Hector Jaime Hernandez, earned $11,035 for running third. The Utah-bred gelding has hit the board in all six starts this year.

Candy Villarreal's Angelas Toast, a winner of 16 of 24 career starts, finished less than a length behind winner FDD Dynasty in his first ever start at Los Alamitos.

"He broke nicely but he almost fell (in the race)," said trainer Ezequiel Villarreal. "We'll run in the Bank of America Challenge Championship next (on November 3)."

Sparky Mullins' Country Chicks Man missed finishing in the top three for the first time in 13 starts. The last time he finished out of the money was a fourth place finish in the Oklahoma Challenge Championship in June of 2005.

"He broke well and only the horse outside of us (Startlet Hawk) had a better break," Carter said. "He had us by about a neck. Country Chicks Man flattened out the last part of the race. He was a little tired at the end. He hadn't been here a long time. We'll see what happens in his next race."

The complete order of finish is as follows; FDD Dynasty, Leading Spirit, Go Love A Lark Go, Angelas Toast, Startlet Hawk, LDS Dash For Dylan, Country Chicks Man, Soul Of Silence, Spike It And Fly, and He Storms.

Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com