Juveniles the Focus During Los Al Winter Meet
Image:
Description:
Photo: Skip Dickstein
The nominees to the 2015 Los Alamitos Futurity include Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist.
Four stakes for 2-year-olds—including a pair of grade I races—highlight the upcoming winter meet at Los Alamitos Race Course.
The 12-day season will begin Dec. 3 and continue through Dec. 20.
The $350,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (gr.I) is the richest event of the three-week meet. The Futurity, which will be contested Dec. 19, was won a year ago by Dortmund, who edged Firing Line and Mr. Z in one of 2014's most thrilling races.
SHINAR: Dortmund Wins Dramatic Los Alamitos Futurity
Among the nominees to the 2015 Futurity are Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner Nyquist, Ralis, Hollywood Don, and I Will Score, an impressive debut winner during the Los Alamitos fall meet for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
One week before the Futurity, 2-year-old fillies will compete in the $300,000 Starlet (gr. I). Take Charge Brandi clinched the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly with a win in the Starlet for owner Willis D. Horton and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas last year.
SHINAR: Take Charge Brandi Wires Starlet Thriller
Nominees for the Starlet include 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) winner Songbird, Rachel's Valentina, Pretty N Cool, and Stays in Vegas. A possible supplement to the Starlet is the undefeated Pacific Heat, who followed her stylish debut win at Los Alamitos in September with a victory in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies Oct. 29 at Del Mar.
The other two stakes will be run at one mile and are ungraded. The $100,000 Soviet Problem will be offered Dec. 5, while the $100,000 King Glorious will be part of a stakes doubleheader Dec. 12. Both are restricted to 2-year-olds bred or sired in California.
California Chrome, the Horse of the Year in 2014, won the 2013 King Glorious, the final stakes race run at the now-closed Hollywood Park.