Ballast Point, Sokudo meet again in Snowbound Superstar Handicap

At 870 yards, Ballast Point has been virtually unbeatable at Los Alamitos this year, winning three of four starts.

Ballast Point’s only loss was a second at 1-5 by a half-length to the Thoroughbred Sokudo in the Harbor Beach Handicap in March. The two meet for the first time since that race in Sunday’s $20,000 Snowbound Superstar Handicap at 870 yards. They are the high-profile runners in a field of six.

The 870-yard division at Los Alamitos is not what it was 20 or 30 years ago, with $100,000 races run on occasion and even a superstar in Griswold worthy of an appearance in a match race against a Thoroughbred at Santa Anita in 1991.

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More recently, the presence of Thoroughbreds in 870- and 1,000-yard races has added depth to the division.

Ballast Point, co-owned by trainer Paul Jones and Terry Thompson, has drawn post 4 in the Snowbound Superstar and will be ridden by Ramon Guce, who is also the regular rider of Sokudo.

A 4-year-old gelding by Favorite Cartel, Ballast Point is quick enough to set the pace in an 870-yard race. In his last start in a straightaway race for Quarter Horses, Ballast Point finished a troubled fourth in the California Challenge Championship at 440 yards in August.

Sokudo, owned and trained by Jesus Uranga, has had a much busier year than Ballast Point. Since the Harbor Beach Handicap, Ballast Point has had only three starts. Sokudo has had nine starts, with four wins. One of those victories was in a starter allowance for former $12,500 claimers at five furlongs at the daytime Thoroughbred meeting at Los Alamitos in June.

Sokudo’s five starts since the June race have been at 1,000 yards and include consecutive wins in a $12,500 claimer in August and an allowance race in September. Eduard Rojas Fernandez rides Sokudo on Sunday.

Restoring Dreams, a 3-year-old Thoroughbred trained by Ryan Hanson, won consecutive allowance races at 1,000 yards in September and October and was third by a neck after setting the pace in a $45,000 claimer at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 7.

While unbeaten in three starts at 1,000 yards, Restoring Dreams is winless in 12 starts against Thoroughbreds and still classified as a maiden. Edwin Maldonado has the mount, replacing Guce.