William Branch’s Rule He Will was king supreme of the $20,000 Wheatland Handicap, as the 9-year-old Thoroughbred gelding by Tribal Ruler took the lead shortly after the star and he laid down the law from there in the 870-yard race on Saturday at Los Alamitos.

Sent off as second choice on the board at  5-2 odds, Rule He Will went to score a 3 ½ length victory in a time of :44.707 . Ridden by Ramon Guce, who won four races on the night, for trainer Jerry Wallace, Rule He Will has won both of his starts this year after only racing once in 2019. Now a winner of three stakes races at Los Alamitos, Rule He Will won the Truly A Pleasure Handicap and Snowbound Superstar Handicap in 2018.

“He loves to run,” Wallace said. “He was in a pasture last year and he wasn’t the same. As soon as he started training again he was a happier horse.”

Wallace is on a hot streak right now. The trainer has won with six out of his last seven starters this year. One of those wins came with Rule He Will on March 22 when the Kjell Qvale-bred runner scored a 1 ¾ length win in season debut. Rule He Will has won eight races from his last 11 starts and 13 out of 23 career starts. He earned $11,000 in the Wheatland to take his lifetime bankroll to $179,361.

Albert Gonzaz and Antonio Mojarro’s 24-1 longshot Love Your Life finished strongly to earn the $4,500 second place money while 6-5 favorite Hardcore Troubador ran third. Biddy Duke, C Dub, Sokudo and Loan Sharky completed the field.

-30-