Los Alamitos: Senor Toby stretches win streak to seven

ARCADIA, Calif. – Senor Toby’s current seven-race winning streak coincides with the span in which the 4-year-old has raced as a gelding. The streak began last June and was extended Jan. 29 in a division of the Los Alamitos Winter Championship trials.

Senor Toby will make his next start in the $226,050 Winter Championship final over 400 yards on Feb. 19. The race has a strong field, including the former champions Jess You and I and Noconi, but should be Senor Toby’s eighth straight win, trainer Jaime Gomez said.

“Everybody will be there,” he said. “I’ve got in my mind I’ll beat them.”

Senor Toby had the second-fastest qualifying time of 19.71 seconds in the trials, behind Noconi’s 19.68 seconds. The other trial race winners were Jess You and I and Dash Back Perry, who won the Grade 2 Charger Bar Handicap for fillies and mares last month.

The Winter Championship will be Senor Toby’s first start in a Grade 1. Owned by Brad Lohr and Daniel Reynoso, Senor Toby has won 7 of 9 starts, with the losses two third-place finishes at 2 in 2010.

He joined Gomez’s stable last spring, after being gelded. The winning streak includes a maiden race, an allowance race, three stakes, and two wins in trial races.

“He’s been nothing but a winner,” Gomez said. “This horse just turned 4. I think he’ll be better and better over time.”

Senor Toby won a division of the Champion of Champions trials in November, but did not qualify to the final of that $750,000 race in December.

Wednesday at Los Alamitos, Senor Toby was galloped, his second such exercise since the trial. Gomez, 60, said Senor Toby will be galloped only one or two more times before the final, a light schedule that is customary for Quarter Horses.

“This horse doesn’t need too much like a Thoroughbred,” Gomez said. “They don’t do too much work. We’ve got to keep him sharp.”

New Look tops Maiden Stakes

New Look, a gelding who needed seven races to beat maidens, holds the fastest qualifying time for the $151,750 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes on Feb. 26.

In time trials Saturday, New Look ran 350 yards in 17.50 seconds, his first start since a maiden race win on Dec. 17. Kool Million, second in that trial, had the second-fastest qualifying time of 17.60.

New Look is trained by Dan Francisco for Martha Wells. The Maiden Stakes is restricted to horses who had not won a race as of Dec. 1.