KISS THRU FIRE AND YOU CAN RUN AMONG STAKES WINNERS OF CHAMPIONS NIGHT
Gentry Farms’ Kiss Thru Fire and Steve Burns’ You Can Run scored stakes victories in their respective divisions during a great opening night of California Breeders Champions Weekend.
Ridden by Raul Valenzuela for trainer Juan Aleman, Kiss Thru Fire held off a game challenge from Fayvorite Chick to win the $40,000 Matron for California-bred fillies and mares to earn her third stakes victory at the Orange County oval this season. Kiss Thru Fire won the Charger Bar Handicap on January 3 and the Denim N Diamonds Handicap on February 20. She also ran a game second to Nomadic in the Grade 2 Southern California Derby.
“She just loves it here,” Robert Kirk Gentry said. “She just keeps getting better. It’s very special because we’ve had that family probably 50 years and about seven generations. I used to come out to Los Alamitos with my dad when I was a kid and still remember the strawberry patches across the street. To still be coming out here to race horses makes it very special.”
Sired by Walk Thru Fire, Kiss Thru Fire (left) is out of the multiple graded stakes winner Fredaville, who won 11 races and earned over $324,000 in her career. Kiss Thru Fire’s granddam and third dam are the multiple stakes winners Fearless Freda and Such An Easy Effort. Go back a few lines farther back and one start discovering the names of the Gentry Brothers-bred Easy Kiss, who ran in the 1977 Kansas Futurity at Ruidoso Downs and 1978 La Primera Del Año finalist at Los Alamitos. Easy Kiss also won a consolation futurity at Ruidoso Downs and earned over $100,000 in the late 1970s.
As for Kiss Thru Fire, she’ll now be pointed to the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Futurity according to Gentry. Kiss Thru Fire earned $22,000 for the win to take her career bankroll to $488,150 while improving to eight wins in 22 starts. She covered the 400 yards in :19.924. Martha Wells’ Fayvorite Chick earned $9,000 for running second for trainer Matt Fales and jockey Ruben Lozano. Max My Bullets, Javelina Cantina, Fire Sunset, Gray Invader, Cotton Cartel and Royaltys Molly also raced.
Bred by Steve Burns, the Mike Cassselman-trained You Can Run (right) enjoyed a brilliant 2021 debut, as he took the lead shortly after the start and held off the Grade 1 stakes placed Cattail Cove by a neck in the $25,000 Sprint Stakes. Ridden by Jesus Rios Ayala, who won three of the five stakes on Saturday’s Champions Night races, You Can Run covered the 350-yard distance in :17.421. This was his fifth win in 13 starts. Sired by Favorite Cartel and out of You Can Fly, the sorrel gelding had a strong 2020 campaign, running second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby and third in the Grade 2 Golden State Derby, a race which was won by Spencer Childers California Championship Handicap winner Cattail Cove.
Link Newcomb’s Cattail Cove earned $5,625 for his runner-up effort and was followed by Pesky, Black Fryday, Chicks Fayvorite, and Stolen Lives.
The $17,500 Claiming Stakes for $10,000 Sophomores went to the Foose gelding BF Nobodys Foose, who posted an impressive 1 ¼ length win for J. Francisco Diaz and trainer Lindolfo Diaz. With Rios Ayala aboard, the Birrell Farms-bred runner improved to three wins from eight starts. He earned $9,625 for the win and was one of three horses claimed out of this race. A full brother to Governor’s Cup Derby finalist BF Outfoosed, BF Nobodys Foose was claimed by Ricardo Guillen and Rodrigo Maldonado.
California Breeders Champions Weekend continues on Sunday night with a 10-race card starting at 7 p.m. The card will feature a Pick 6 Carryover of more than $14,000. For wall to wall Champions Night info visit: https://www.losalamitos.com/champion/index.html
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