FLASH BAK IMPRESSIVE IN CALIFORNIA RETURN, TOPS SUPER DERBY TRIALS
Dutch Masters III’s Flash Bak loves Los Alamitos Race Course. The Missouri-bred runner by Moonin The Eagle has started seven times at the Southern California track and the results have been outstanding. Bred by James Streelman of Dutch Masters III and Jim Dale, the Jaime Gomez-tranee has won five of those seven outings at Los Alamitos and his top efforts have included a victory in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby, a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million and on Saturday night a come-from-behind victory over multiple stakes finalist Counting The Ways in the opening trial to the Grade 1, $925,650 Los Alamitos Super Derby.
Ridden by Oscar Peinado from post number seven, Flash Bak posted the fastest qualifying time to California’s richest derby. The sorrel gelding covered the 400 yards in :19.660 on the way to enjoying his sixth overall win from 14 total starts. Racing at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico over the summer, Flash Bak was also making his first start at the Orange County track since his ¾ length victory in the Winter Derby on February 13.
“He arrived at Los Alamitos two days after he ran in the All American Invitational,” Gomez said. “He’s been here for about 1 ½ months and he hasn’t had a bad day since getting here. He’s been doing really well. I love his post position and felt that he would do well in this race. This was a super tough trial, but he was one of the horses that made this a tough trial.”
In the first of five heats held on Saturday night, Flash Bak faced a field that in addition to Counting The Ways also featured Fallout, who ran third in the Heritage Place Derby, plus graded stakes winner Constituent and Monopolist. As it turned out, three of the 10 finalist to the Super Derby came out of this race as Flash Bak was joined in the list of qualifiers by Counting The Ways and Fallout. For Gomez, this was surely the type of race that he hoped for from his talented charge after going winless in four starts at Ruidoso Downs.
“The horse ran a little flat there,” Gomez said. “He got sick on me before he went to Ruidoso after winning the (Winter Derby) here. Perhaps he could have could have used some more time off. He didn’t qualify to the All American Derby. He didn’t break in his trial after being slow out of the gate. He’s an honest horse thought. He is doing super here, eating great and doing as good as ever.”
A total of 36 sophomores competed in the Super Derby trials, with the horses with the 10 fastest times qualifying to the final on Sunday, October 7. Racing for the partnership of Bujanda, Encinas, Flores and CD Horses, Inc., Counting The Ways posted the third fastest time after covering the distance in :19.744. The Favorite Cartel gelding entered this race after running third in the Governor’s Cup Derby.
The second trial resulted in the most Super Derby qualifiers as four advanced from this heat. Joe Dee Brooks, Scott Bryant and Norman Allen’s Grade 1 stakes placed runner A Dangerous Flash outdueled Julianna Hawn Holt’s Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity winner Apollitical Patty to win this race in a time of :19.821. Bred in Colorado by Audie and Kaye Williams, the gelding by First Moonflash is out of the AQHA champion Flame N Flash, who won the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap and ran in the Los Alamitos Super Derby in 2012. Now a winner in six of 12 starts, A Dangerous Flash was ridden by Eduardo Nicasio for trainer Chris O’Dell.
Apollitical Patty had her best overall start since winning the Los Alamitos Oaks on March 27, as she left the gate cleanly, had the lead for most of the race before losing by a head to a tough opponent. She was also well behaved in the starting gate after being rambunctious at the starts of her last two races.
“We schooled her at night for this race,” trainer Monty Arrossa said. “We saddled her with a training saddle, took her to the receiving bar, the paddock and then the schooled twice in the gate one night with Armando Cervantes on her. We had been schooling her in the mornings and she was doing everything right but then she would act up at night. We decided to switch it up and try something different for this start. The Los Alamitos Oaks and the Los Alamitos Super Derby trials are her most important races.”
Apollitical Patty’s time of :19.833 made her the sixth fastest qualifier, while A Dangerous Flash was the fifth fastest. Also qualifying from this trial were Reliance Ranches’ SC Divas Cartel Man and Paulo Otavio Freire Macedo’s Reason To Fly Mv, the latter coming into this race after winning the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels.
Junior Quarter Horses, Inc’s Favorite Doc, the runner-up in the Grade 1 All American Derby, won the third trial with the second fastest time of :19.716, while Reliance Ranches LLC’s A Dash Of Sign, who was second in this race, finished with the fourth fastest time of :19.763.
Haras Portofino’s Rite On Time completed the list of qualifiers after winning the final race at 6-1 odds in the ninth fastest time of :19.870. The winner of the California Breeders Debutante Stakes, Rite On Time was ridden by Ramon Sanchez for trainer Paul Jones. She’s won five of her 11 career starts.
The complete list of qualifiers is as follows: Flash Bak (:19.660), Favorite Doc (:19.716), Counting The Ways (:19.744), A Dash Of Sign (:19.763), A Dangerous Flash (:19.821), Apollitical Patty (:19.833), SC Divas Cartel Man (:19.855), Fallout (:19.866), Rite On Time (:19.870), and Reason To Fly Mv (:19.888).
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