HERE'S THE LACF MEET AT LOS ALAMITOS CONDITION BOOK
CHISMOSA, ELM DRIVE AMONG 20 NOMINEES TO GREAT LADY M STAKES
CYPRESS, Calif. ---Chismosa and Elm Drive, who finished 2-3 behind the Bob Baffert-trained Eda in the Great Lady M Stakes in 2023, are among 20 nominees to the Grade II, $200,000-guaranteed race for fillies and mares.
.jpg "Los Alamitos Racing Association (2)")
The race at 6 ½ furlongs will be run for the 11th time at Los Alamitos Saturday, July 6, the next-to-last day of the Los Angeles County Fair meet.
Owned by breeder Jaime Renella and trained by Rafael DeLeon, Chismosa, a 4-year-old Clubhouse Ride filly, was beaten by a neck when 19-1 a year ago. A winner of five of 18 with earnings of $501,750, the California-bred enters the Great Lady M off a win, rallying to capture the Desert Stormer June 2 at Santa Anita.
Owned by Little Red Feather Racing and trained by Phil D’Amato, Elm Drive has been third in the Great Lady M. in consecutive years. She was defeated by a half-length in 2023 after finishing 3 ½ lengths behind winner Becca Taylor a year earlier.
A 5-year-old Mohaymen mare, Elm Drive is 5-for-18 with earnings of $575,745.
D’Amato nominated three other talented ladies to the Great Lady M – Connie Swingle, Sun of Hill and Super Shine.
Baffert, who has won the Great Lady M five times since 2015, nominated Richi, a Chilean-bred who was second in the Desert Stormer in her U.S. debut. The daughter of Practical Joke has won six of 10 and has been worse than second only once.
Besides Eda, the Hall of Famer has also scored in the last 10 years with Fantastic Style (2015), Marley’s Freedom (2018-2019) and Gamine (2021).
The other nominees, in alphabetical order, are Anywho, Big Celebration, Court Snort, Daddysruby, Fast Giselle, Fayette Fox, Getthemoney, Irish Wahine, Olivia Twist, Report, Sweet Azteca, Three Witches, Tom’s Regret and Yuki.
Entries for the Great Lady M Stakes will be taken Wednesday, July 3.
NONE ABOVE THE LAW SCORES 9-1 UPSET IN OPENING DAY BERTRANDO
CYPRESS, Calif – The longest shot in the field at 9-1, None Above the Law ended a lengthy losing streak with a last-to-first victory in the $100,000 Bertrando Stakes Saturday at Los Alamitos, opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meet.
Completing a double for trainer Jorge Periban and jockey Antonio Fresu, the 6-year-old Karakontie gelding won for the first time since taking the Grade II Del Mar Derby Sept. 4, 2021 when trained by Peter Miller for owner-breeders J. Kirk and Judy Robison.
Nineteen consecutive defeats followed, including three for his current connections – Periban and owner Hector Castrellon – who claimed None Above the Law for $50,000 Feb. 24, before his heroics Saturday.
Content to trail while 3-1 third choice Dont Fight the Fed and 9-10 favorite Cowboy Mike battled through 23.17, 46.16 and 1:10.57 splits for the first six furlongs, None Above the Law rallied on the outside to outfinish 19-10 second choice by three-quarters of a length.
The win was his seventh in 34 starts and the $60,000 payday pushed his earnings to $633,802. He paid $20 and $5.80 while completing the mile in 1:35.76.
Lovesick Blues, who was also second in the 2023 Bertrando behind favored Kings River Knight, returned $3.40. There was no show wagering after Tom and Horn and Dick Best were scratched earlier in the day, reducing the field to four.
Dont Fight the Fed wound up five lengths behind Lovesick Blues in third while finishing nearly two lengths in front of Cowboy Mike.
Even though None Above the Law was sixth, fourth and seventh in his first three races after the claim, Periban didn’t lose confidence in the gray, who is out of the Northern Afleet mare Legally Blanca.
“He had been running with a little bit tougher the last few times he had run and he had been doing better and better in the morning,’’ said Periban, who won earlier in the afternoon with favored Ace Ace Baby. “(Fresu) told me a couple of the other horses in here were going to go, so he just waited.
“I never lost faith in this horse after we claimed him. He’s got a lot of talent and I’ve always had a good feeling about him.’’
The stakes win was the first at Los Alamitos for Fresu, who also won the meet opener with Prancingthruparis.
“(Periban) said he was doing great,’’ said Fresu. “He was very relaxed warming up and seemed to be enjoying things.
“I let him get into a rhythm down the backstretch and then I swung him out for the stretch and he showed his class.’’
Two jockeys picked up their first wins at Los Alamitos Saturday. Jeremy Laprida scored with the aforementioned Ace Ace Baby in the fourth while apprentice Welfin Orantes rallied to win the eighth with 2-1 second choice Court Snort.
Racing resumes Sunday at Los Alamitos. Post time is 1 p.m.
LOS ALAMITOS THOROUGHBRED MEET BROADCAST
TO INCLUDE GRAPHIC SHOWING PROJECTED CLOSING ODDS
The Los Alamitos Thoroughbred Meet will feature an informational graphic on the track’s simulcast broadcast showing projected closing odds for win wagers on selected races based on a mathematical calculation using Will Pays for that given race.
The graphic will be branded at Los Alamitos as the “In Play” Projected Closing Odds, and will be based on Will Pays, particularly Pick 3s and Pick 4s, which are thought to be reliable indicators of a horse’s actual closing odds.During its Thoroughbred Meet, the track will be showing these “In Play” projected closing odds starting with the third race on Saturday’s opening day card. The “In Play” graphic will be available shortly after the previous race has been run.
“We’ll be offering these projected odds on our simulcast feed with an easy-to-read graphic,” said Orlando Gutierrez, the marketing director at Los Alamitos Race Course. “We feel that giving horse players more information is a plus and from there each bettor, individually, can determine whether this information is helpful to their handicapping and wagering practices."
The LACF Thoroughbred Meet will open on Saturday, June 22 and continue through Sunday, July 7. The first post each day will be at 1 p.m. For more information, pleasevisit LosAlamitos.com.
-30-
