Arrossa has another top juvenile in Apollitical Patty

Shortly after he won the $1.115 million Ed Burke Million Futurity on Sunday at Los Alamitos with Chance to Excel, trainer Monty Arrossa was asked for the name of the second-best 2-year-old in the barn.

Arrossa was quick to nominate Apollitical Patty, a filly who will be a strong favorite in a 300-yard allowance race Friday evening. Apollitical Patty is a half-sister to Zoomin for Spuds, winner of the 2016 Champion of Champions for Arrossa.

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In her debut May 22 at Los Alamitos, Apollitical Patty ran 300 yards in a quick 15.47 seconds, winning by 1 3/4 lengths as the 1-2 favorite.

The competition will be a bit tougher in Friday’s allowance race, but Apollitical Patty is the focus of the race.

Owned by the family of the late Jim Walker, Apollitical Patty was bred in Idaho. She is nominated to the two major futurities at Los Alamitos at the end of the year – the Golden State Million in November and the Los Alamitos Two Million in December. Chance to Excel is expected to have his next start in time trials for the Golden State Million on Oct. 18.

Apollitical Patty is likely to have a few starts through the summer in preparation for those leading races. Arrossa joked Sunday that Apollitical Patty is eligible for the Bitterroot Futurity at Pocatello, Idaho, on July 31, but that his training colleagues in the Northwest said they would pay to nominate Apollitical Patty for any stakes of Arrossa’s choosing to keep her out of that part of the country.

Friday, Apollitical Patty is part of a field of six – five fillies and the gelding Fractional Interest – and will be ridden by Armando Cervantes, who was aboard for the maiden win.

Two notable rivals are College Scandal, trained by Juan Aleman, and Halley, trained by Mike Robbins. College Scandal won a division of the Kindergarten Futurity trials on May 3, but was not fast enough to qualify for the final. Halley was second to Jess Paint Me in a division of the Ed Burke trials on June 7 and just missed qualifying for the final. Jess Paint Me was ninth behind Chance to Excel.

Those fillies have run promising races, but were not as quick as Apollitical Patty. The allowance race is the sixth race on a seven-race program that begins at 6 p.m. Pacific, following the opening program of the track’s two-week Thoroughbred meeting. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.