APOLLITICAL VICTORY DAYLIGHTS RIVALS TO WIN LOS ALAMITOS MAIDEN STAKES
“Little Pence” has arrived. Apollitical Victory, the younger brother of five-time Grade 1 stakes winner Apollitical Pence, dominated the running of the $87,500 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes as he delivered a wire-to-wire daylight win in 350-yard race on Saturday night.
Ridden by Armando Cervantes for trainer Monty Arrossa, the Dunn Ranch-owned Apollitical Victory had previously displayed his talent in the trials, winning that heat by 1 ¾ lengths. The colt by Apollitical Jess and out of the Tres Seis mare Send City covered the distance in :17.691 while earning $36,855 for the win. The Dunn Ranch bred runner improved his record to two wins from four starts and his earnings to a total of $42,805.
“We keep reminding who is older brother is and hoping that someday he’ll follow in his footstep,” Arrossa said with a smile. “(Apollitical Victory) has matured a lot. Going into the trials he had only had a couple of starts. He came out of the trials real well. He did super good between the weeks of the trials and the final and looked real good today. He stood in the gate, got away good and ran professional.”
The Maiden Stakes was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, February 26, but it was pushed an extra week due to the winter storm that swept through the West Coast last week. Apollitical Victory took advantage of the extra time off, as he iced his rivals right from the start thanks to his early quickness.
“I was a little nervous because he was doing real good a week ago,” Arrossa said. “I was scared that something may happen in between because you never know. Anything can happen. He did well. We were able to take him to the track a couple of times and took him to the gate and schooled him. He’s a good eater, a good rester, and his groom, Alvaro Diaz, has done a great job with him. He takes good care of him, keeps him happy, and Armando knows him well.”
It sounds like Apollitical Victory will pack his bags and travel to New Mexico for a summer campaign.
“He’s paid to some races at Ruidoso Downs,” the trainer added. “He’ll be back to the Los Alamitos Super Derby trials in October. We’ll probably go Ruidoso next.”
Gildardo Garcia’s Don Lazaro ran a tremendous race at 25-1 odds to finish in second place for jockey Rodrigo Aceves and trainer Adan Farias. The Favorite Cartel gelding out of Garcia’s Governor’s Cup Futurity winning mare Secretly Hot earned $14,918 for his big effort. Gary Allred, Tyler Christensen, Fawna Knight, et al’s Dangerous Fella earned $10,530 for running third. Ojd Shez Gon Rogue, A Dream To Fill, Ketchum, Up The Interest, and Political Royalty completed the field.
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