CALIFORNIA BREEDERS CHAMPIONS NIGHT

COURTESY OF STALLIONESEARCH.COM AND LOS ALAMITOS.COM


My Buddie will put his perfect record on the
line in the $400,000 Governors Cup Futurity.
Photo by Scott Martinez


Outstanding Group Nominated For CA Breeders Champions Night



LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA—An outstanding collection of California-Bred Quarter Horses has been nominated to participate in the 8th renewal of California Breeders Champions Night to take place on Saturday, July 28 at Los Alamitos Race Course.
The event will feature its richest stakes purses ever – with every horse participating in the California Breeders Champions Night races guaranteed to earn a minimum of $600. The richest race on the card is the $400,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity, which will feature a battle of undefeated 2-year-olds My Buddie, Bikers Bono and Ought To Be Rapid. Last year’s champion 2-year-old colt FDD Dynasty and El Primero Del Ano Derby winner Not A Full Moon will head the $170,000 Governor’s Cup Derby.

The $150,000 Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap attracted 22 nominees. Catchmeinyourdreams, the four-time AQHA champion who recently became a millionaire, headlines the list of names. Catchmeinyourdreams has never won this race but has finished second a total of three times, including each of the last two years. Twice he lost to Be A Bono, who will not be back to defend his Spencer Childers titles.

Apollitical Time, last year’s champion aged horse and champion aged mare, has also been nominated. She last raced when finishing third in the Grade 1 Charger Bar Handicap on January 6. Apollitical Time is a two-time winner on Champions Night. She won the Governor’s Cup Futurity in 2005 and the Matron Stakes last year.

Strawkins, the champion 3-year-old gelding, could make his season debut in the Spencer Childers. The Hawkinson gelding has not raced since finishing fifth to World Champion Wave Carver in last year’s Champion of Champions. Volcom, winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Championship, 2007 Kaweah Bar Handicap winner Modem, 2006 PCQHRA Breeders Derby winner Ah Commotion, 2006 Vandy’s Flash Handicap winner Soul Of Silence, 2006 All American Derby runner-up First Wicked Lady, 2007 Vessels Maturity third place finisher He Storms, and Strength In Numbers, who won the Newport Beach Handicap, in last year’s Champions Night are among the other top horses also nominated to this year’s Spencer Childers.

Apollitical Time, First Wicked Lady and Strength In Numbers were also nominated to the Matron Stakes. Fifteen other mares were nominated to this race, including Apollos Favorite, a classy mare with $237,477 in earnings who ran third in last year’s Spencer Childers, Lindas Dasher, who ran in last year’s Champion of Champions, Mongoose Hawkette and Mongoose Separatist, who ran first and second, respectively, in last year’s Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes, Florentine Handicap winner Romanticist, and 2006 Ruidoso Derby runner-up Rousing Encore.

Lassen County, the runner-up in both the Los Alamitos Winter Derby and El Primero Del Ano Derby, headlines the list of 15 nominees to the Jens L. List Memorial California Breeders Stakes for 3-year-olds. Quiero Separarte, who has not raced since running in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity last year, Bayer Legend California Derby runner-up Corona Candy are among the other nominees.

The Freshman Stakes has nine nominations, including Kindergarten Futurity finalist Fighter On Fire and recent allowance winner Thinking First. The Marathon Stakes lured only five entries, however, it’s a very evenly matched group headed by Gold Rush Derby runner-up Tokay Flame and multiple stakes winner Shy Anns Trust. In contrast, 24 horses were nominated to the Sprint Stakes. Choosy, who qualified to both the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity and Governor’s Cup Futurity last season, and 220-yard track record holder Too Jittered To Fish have been nominated to the Newport Beach Handicap. Just Dash, who is undefeated in two career starts, is another one to watch in the Newport Beach.

La Primera Del Ano Derby finalists Look Her Over and Shes No Fantasy have been nominated to the 550-Yard Sophomore Stakes along with nine other Quarter Horses. Four claiming stakes races are also on the card for California Breeders Champions Night.

For complete nomination lists, plus past performance lines for each horse nominated, please visit www.losalamitos.com. The official program for Champions Night will be available free at the track’s website on Thursday afternoon.