FUTURE VERSION, PHOEBES BABY GIRL CO-SHARE THE FASTEST TIME TO GOVERNOR’S CUP DERBY
The future is now for Rojas Racing, Javier Chavez and Juan Moya’s Future Version after the gelding by Favorite Cartel ran a near flawless race on his way to sharing with Parsons Ranch’s Phoebes Baby Girl the honor of having the fastest qualifying time to the Governor’s Cup Derby on Sunday night at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Cruz Mendez for trainer Jose Flores, the Favorite Cartel gelding broke nicely from post three then quickly hit a higher gear to take the lead and from there held off a nice late rally from Birrell Farms’ BF Lizzierageous to win the first of three trials to the Governor’s Cup Derby. The Ed Allred-bred standout covered the distance in :19.861 to make him the fastest of 18 sophomores that competed in the 400-yard trials on Sunday. The horses with the 10 fastest times will return on Sunday, July 30 for the Derby final during California Breeders Champions Weekend.
After winning only one of seven starts during his juvenile year, Future Version (left) has won both of his starts this year. He posted a strong ¾ length win on June 3 before catching the eye with this winning effort over five other rivals. Out of talented broodmare Make Over, Future Version faced some of the best 2-year-olds in the country last year. He took on All American Futurity winner Hes Judgeandjury In his trial to the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on November 20 and in his trial to the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity, he ran second to dual Grade 1 futurity winner Party Politics. He’ll now be making his stakes debut in the Governor’s Cup Derby final in three weeks.
Owned and bred by Parsons Ranch, Phoebes Baby Girl (left) outfinished Valentin Zamudio’s Turbeau by a neck to win the third trial of the night. A filly by Favorite Cartel out of the graded stakes winner A Political Lady, Phoebes Baby Girl matched Future Version’s winning time of :19.861 while winning for the third time in nine career starts. Ridden by Henry Reynoso Lopez for trainer Paul Jones, Phoebes Baby Girl will also be making her stakes debut in the Governor’s Cup Derby.
George and Ruben Villalobos’ homebred Required First was all business when leading from gate to wire to win the second trial in the fourth fastest qualifying time of :19.902. The colt by First Down Dash has the strongest stakes resume among the 10 qualifiers after running second in last year’s Governor’s Cup Derby and running in California’s richest horse race of 2022, the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. Flores trains Required First, who was ridden by Jairo Rangel. He’s won three of 10 career starts.
The complete list of qualifiers is as follows: Future Version (:19.861), Phoebes Baby Girl (:19.861), Turbeau (:19.893), Required First (:19.902), BF Lizzierageous (:19.903), Terrific Phoenix (:19.946), Up For Everything (:19.990), Escalated (:20.054), La Tarahumara Fire (:20.094), and Don Lazaro (:20.125).
-30-