Cesar De Alba, a former leading Quarter Horse jockey at Los Alamitos now trainer, saddled his first Quarter Horse winner after the 2-year-old filly Kool Baby Kool defeated nine rivals in the fifth race on Friday at Los Alamitos.
Owned by Casey Whitaker, Kool Baby Kool was picking up her first win in California in four starts. The Steve Burns-bred filly had won once before while racing in Utah back in June for trainer Sergio Canales. De Alba took over the training duties on Kool Baby Kool when she arrived to California in the summer, but troubled starts kept her from shining in her local outings. Sent off at odds of 7-1, the daughter of One Sweet Jess put it all together on Friday night, as she broke on top and outdueled Arts Obsession by a half-length in a 300-yard time of :15.669. Oscar Peinado, who recently returned to riding after being sidelined with injuries, piloted Kool Baby Kool to victory. This was Peinado's first win since July 2018.
As for winning trainer De Alba, he had previously saddled the Thoroughbred Seven Oxen to a pair of victories, first during the daytime Thoroughbred meet at Los Alamitos in July and then at Del Mar. Kool Baby Kool was De Alba’s fifth career Quarter Horse starter. Of course, De Alba is no stranger to the Los Alamitos winner’s circle. As a rider, he won 1,030 Quarter Horse races from 6,114 mounts with 1,000 of those wins coming at Los Alamitos. His mounts earned $15.8 million. De Alba retired at the end of the 2018 meet at Los Alamitos as the track’s 15th all-time leading rider. His 90 stakes wins rank him 10th all-time here.
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