The most impressive juvenile winner of the meet has been Juan Humberto Moya’s homebred gelding Diamond Rock, who posted a brilliant 2 ¾ length win even after drifting in during the first half of the race, in Saturday’s seventh race at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Jairo Rangel for trainer Jose Flores, Diamond Rock had a two length advantage on his closest pursuer about 150 yards into the 300-yard race. The son of Parsons Rock just kept on going stronger and stronger with each stride, finally crossing the wire with no one in the same zip code while posting a winning time of :15.563. The well-regarded colt Wrong Impression finished second in this race for trainer Paul Jones.
Diamond Rock has been special ever since arriving at Los Alamitos earlier this year. In his first gate work, sorrel gelding posted the third fastest of 38 works when posting a :12.40 clocking on March 19 while displaying a strong gallop out. He followed it up by posting the fastest of 20 drills on April 2 when covering the distance in :12.20 while racing from inside post against two other foes.
Well prepared for his racing debut, Diamond Rock took another step forward thanks to his crushing maiden victory. Next for the young runners will be the trials to the Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity on May 5. Flores is well versed on what it takes to win the Kindergarten, as he’s trained four winners of the 300-yard futurity during his accomplished career. Flores saddled Sneaky Fast to victory in 1997 and had his second winner 13 years later with West Coast Hawk in 2010. He didn’t have to wait long for his next two Kindergarten wins, as he saddled Glitter In My Face to victory in the 2013 running and then Old Girl in the 2014 renewal.
Moya bred his mare Might She Go to the young stallion Parsons Rock, who now stands at Firth Ranch in Hemet. Bred by Ed Allred, Might She Go never started in her career, but her bloodlines are outstanding. A daughter of Stel Corona, Might She Go is out of the Go And Dash, who earned $51,391 in her career. She was second to the great Separatist in the 1999 California Sires Cup Futurity and third behind Worth A Look and A Honey Of A Dash in the 2000 La Primera Del Ano Derby. Go And Dash’s granddam is Allred and Kenneth Wright’s Go Proudly, winner of the 1983 La Primera Del Año Derby while earning nearly $200,000. Go Proudly’s dam is none other than the Hall of Fame mare Charger Bar, winner of a record 18 stakes races at Los Alamitos including the 1973 Champion of Champions.
With glittering heritage and a tremendous winning debut, Diamond Rock is looking like a bright star heading into the first set of futurity trials of the 2019 season at Los Alamitos. And it seems like all he needs to do is to keep showing his current form.
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Fernando Flores’ Mister Tornado took the lead shortly after the start and then held off a late run by Cesar Dabdoub’s Secretary Of Defense to win the sixth race on Saturday night by a neck. Ridden by Julio De La Torre, the colt by Sports Cartel covered the distance in :15.888. Trained by Felix Gonzalez, the Salvador Flores-bred runner is eligible to compete in next Sunday’s trials to the Kindergarten Futurity.
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