EYE ON THE SKY IS THE STAR OF THE NIGHT SATURDAY AT LOS ALAMITOS
KNOCKOUT CARTEL, SHE GOES UP WITH MAIDEN WINS
Racing for Steve Burns, Francisco Garcia and Juan Humberto Moya, the Favorite Cartel colt Eye On The Sky (photo) delivered the most impressive victory by a 2-year-old so far this season, as he was simply sensational after flying out of the gate on the way to a jaw-dropping 3 ½ length victory in the seventh race here on Saturday at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Cruz Mendez for trainer Jose Flores, Eye On The Sky covered the 300 yards in the meet’s fastest time by a juvenile of :15.580, bettering the :15.63 clocking posted by Dutch Masters III’s Woman Secrets. A key difference is that Eye On The Sky set the mark in his career debut, while Woman Secret’s clocking came in his second outing.
Purchased for $62,000 at the Heritage Place Fall Mixed Sale, the Steve Burns-bred Eye On The Sky came into this race after posting the bullet work at 220 yards of :12.20 on April 3. In posting the fastest of 25 works that morning, Eye On The Sky outworked Knockout Cartel, who was a maiden winner as well on Saturday night. All signs point to Eye On The Sky being a star in the making at Los Alamitos.
“It looks like it, if he can keep it together,” Flores said. “He’s a (colt) and if he can keep his mind right, I think he has a lot of future. He’s a Favorite Cartel and we love it that he’s a stallion. He’s come along really good. Cruz did a good job holding him over there. All my grooms, my help, they’ve all have a done a great job taking care of him. He’s done things real easy. In his first work he went 12.7 and did it easy. He came back and went 12.20. We didn’t push him. Cruz just sat on him in the second work. He showed his potential right here.”
Eye On The Sky will make his second start in the trials to the Ed Burke Million Futurity on May 30.
“We have some time to freshen him up,” Flores added. “We’ll make sure everything is good with him, make sure he’s staying sound. That’s the most important thing and we’ll go from there.”
Eye On The Sky is out of the One Famous Eagle mare Eagle On The Fly. The mare had an outstanding 2-year-old campaign back in 2014, as she won her trials to the Rainbow Futurity All American Futurity and Hobbs America Futurity. She finished third in the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity behind the winner Trendi and runner-up Kiss My Hocks. The now 9-year-old Eagle On The Fly also finished second in the Grade 2 Hobbs American Futurity.
Owned by Burns, Flores and George Seward, Knockout Cartel scored his maiden victory by a half-length in evening’s fifth race. Ridden by Jairo Rangel, the Favorite Cartel gelding covered the distance in :15.956. The Colorado-bred is out of Ms Jess Knockout, who raced in the 2016 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. She earned $131,266 in her racing career. Knockout Cartel is eligible to the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, Golden State Million Futurity, Los Alamitos Super Derby and more.
Experience once again paid off for a juvenile at Los Alamitos, as Ed Allred’s She Goes Up was outstanding in her second career start, scoring her maiden victory here in Saturday’s fourth race.
A filly by Seperate Interest and out of Governor’s Cup Futurity winner Up For It, She Goes Up was the only runner in the six-horse field with past racing experience. Knowing her way around the starting gate paid off, as she flew right away in route to a daylight victory and the meet’s second fastest clocking at 220-yards. She Goes Up covered the distance in :12.083, which was only 2/1000ths of a second away from Golden Boi’s debut clocking of :12.081.
Ridden by Victor Salazar for trainer Scott Willoughby, She Goes Up led by a half-length at the start. She got stronger with each stride and eventually pulled away to a length victory. The Allred-bred filly came in after running fifth to Set For It on April 11. She Goes Up is eligible to the major futurities here plus the Los Alamitos Oaks and the Los Alamitos Super Derby in 2022.
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