Aint He Tempting sets fastest qualifying time for Ed Burke Futurity

Aint He Tempting was a feisty colt before and during the last of 10 divisions of the Ed Burke Million Futurity trials at Los Alamitos on Sunday.

Aint He Tempting reared in the gate, settled down, and then proceeded to spend more of his energy in a positive way, winning the 350-yard race by two lengths in 17.641 seconds. Aint He Tempting set the fastest qualifying time for the $1 million final on June 19.

Trained by Monty Arrossa for Matt Dunn, Aint He Tempting is likely to be favored in the first of the track’s three seven-figure futurities. The Golden State Million Futurity is run in November, while the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity is run in December.

Aint He Tempting is Arrossa’s lone qualifier. He won the race with Chance to Excel in 2020. Last year, Dunn and Arrossa were second and third in the Burke with In Hott Pursuit and Motiveighted.

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Trainer Francisco Diaz, Felix Gonzalez, and Valentin Zamudio each have two qualifiers for this year’s Burke.

Diaz trains Quirky Bitty Jess, who won the seventh trial by 1 1/4 lengths in 17.644 seconds. The Diaz-trained El Aventurero won the third trial in 17.82 seconds.

Gonzalez trains trial winners Frivolous and Navaja, who were both timed in 17.79 seconds. Navaja was sixth in the Kindergarten Futurity on May 15. The Ed Burke trial was her fourth start.

Zamudio, who won the 2021 Burke with Golden Boi, trains Eyetinerari (17.86) and Apollitical Jet (17.89), who were second in their trials.

Other qualifiers are trial race winner DK Double and trial second-place finishers Escalated and Party Politics.

Aint He Tempting, by Tempting Dash, was purchased for $120,000 at the Ruidoso yearling sale last September. Aint He Tempting is a full-brother to the retired 4-year-old filly Aint She Tempting, who won 5 of 12 starts and earned $727,427 in a career highlighted by a win in the Golden State Derby last August in her final start.