CONSTITUENT WINS AGAIN, SETS TOP TIME TO EL PRIMERO FINAL
M & G Farms’ Constituent scored his seventh victory in nine career starts on the way to recording the fastest qualifying time to the Grade 2, $225,200 El Primero Del Año Derby on Sunday at Los Alamitos.
Bred by Dr. Steve Burns, Constituent dominated his trial right from the start, as he flew from post number seven to take the early lead and then cruised home from there on the way to a 1 ½ length win in a time of :19.806. The winner of the Governor’s Cup Futurity last year, the son of Seperate Interest will now headline the El Primero final to be held on Sunday, March 28.
“He’s a winning machine,” trainer Valentin Zamudio said. “He loves it, thankfully. He’s a blessing. I liked him a lot because he’s been doing great, but we needed a good break and he had to do everything well. If he did, then I had a lot of faith in his chances to win. He did everything right. He went to the inside a little bit, but he straightened out and went on to win. He had not raced in two months and this race was at 400 yards. His last race was almost two months ago and at 330 yards, so I feel that he’ll be sharper in the final. I don’t know if he’ll win the final, but I think he’ll be right there if everything goes well for us.”
Constituent was named the PCQHRA champion 2-year-old colt last year after winning five of seven starts. In addition to winning the Governor’s Cup, he also qualified to the Golden State Million Futurity.
“The owners are thrilled win him,” Zamudio said. “The Governor’s Cup was the first major stakes races they had won, and they’ve told me how happy they are. That is a wonderful thing to hear from owners as great as M & G Farms. I now have three 2-year-olds for them here, so that is exciting and a wonderful blessing. I just hope that we can continued to do good work and that the hard work translates to nice results.”
Trainer Paul Jones saddled the two other trial winners with as Les and Kim Sweeting’s BF Outfoosed winning the opening trial and Haras Portofino’s Untuckit taking the second heat. Ridden by Raul Valenzuela from post five, BF Outfoosed had a sharp start and just improved from there, drawing away from his rivals halfway through the race in route to a ¾ length win in a time of :19.81.
BF Outfoosed has now qualified to four stakes races at Los Alamitos after making the field to three graded futurities last year, including the Ed Burke Million Futurity. He also qualified to the Grade 2 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity and the Restricted Grade 1 Governor’s Cup Futurity.
“He’s a nice horse,” Jones said. “He was like the star of the stable last year. He qualified to everything that we put him in. We gave him a rest at the ranch, freshened him up before bringing him back. He came back and it really seemed to do him some good. He looked fresh and happy. He ran really nice tonight.
“The Sweetings are great owners. They are as happy as they can be and are really looking forward to the final. It’s nice to do well for people like that. He’s the only horse that they have with me and to have this kind of success with him, that’s a lot of fun.”
Ridden by Ramon Sanchez, Untuckit took a half-length lead early on and then continued strongly from there to score an easy 1 ¼ length win in a time of :19.954. Untuckit, who had the fastest qualifying to the Governor’s Cup Futurity last year, was making only second start of the year and second outing since running sixth in the Governor’s Cup final back on July 26. In his 2021 debut, the Favorite Cartel gelding was seventh at the start before finishing powerfully to run second.
“He needed that race,” Jones added. “He didn’t break last time and got a really bad start but came flying on the end of it to get up for second. He came from way out. Tonight, he got out well and had a clean path. He’s just a really talented horse. He looked good tonight. I’m really proud of him.”
The complete list of qualifiers to the El Primero Del Año Derby is as follows: Constituent (:19.806), BF Outfoosed (:19.810), Fly The Coup (:19.934), Untuckit (:19.951), Garda Da Cash (:20.038), This Parties Hoppin (:20.072), Favorite Colossus (:20.149), Dont Ride The Slide (:20.181), Favorite Five (:20.203), and Watch Over Bella (:20.219).
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