Bassett keeps Two Million in family

Los Alamitos:

A Bassett family member trained the winner of the Los Alamitos Two Million for the fifth time in 13 runnings when the Quarter Horse One Famous Eagle won the Grade 1, $2 million stakes on Friday night at Los Alamitos.

One Famous Eagle's trainer, John Bassett, has trained four of those winners, and his son, Joe Bassett, trained the 2006 winner, Blues Girl Too. It was the third straight win for a member of the Bassett family.

One Famous Eagle ($5.40) was the fastest horse in the final half of the 400-yard test, racing to his first stakes win in 19.525 seconds. He finished a head in front of Grade 1 Golden State Million winner Eye for Corona. Magic Show Czech was another nose back in third.

Fighter on Fire was the 9-5 favorite until he became fractious in the gate and scratched, precipitating the unloading of the field and a five-minute delay.

"The first time we were in the gate he was sharp, like I wanted him," said jockey Saul Ramirez Jr. of One Famous Eagle. "The second time he was more relaxed, but he still ran every jump."

One Famous Eagle, owned by Dr. Glen Blodgett of the 6666 Ranch and Johnny Trotter, is a tall, leggy colt who was late to develop and was not pushed by Bassett. He won his maiden in his fourth start when he set the fastest-qualifying time of 19.440 seconds for the Two Million while winning the first of nine trials.

"If it wasn't for the owners letting me take my time, we wouldn't be here," Bassett said .