Bh Lisas Boy tops field in Challenge Championship

Bh Lisas Boy, who will shoot for his second Grade 1 win of the year in Saturday night’s $250,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos, is the kind of horse breeder, owner, and trainer Bill Hoburg has been dreaming about for a long time.

“I’ve waited for 40 years for a horse like this,” he said. “I’ve turned down a lot of money for this horse because I’ve been wanting a horse like this. He’s the best horse I’ve had.”

Bh Lisas Boy is part of an 11-horse field for the Challenge Championship that also includes champion Hold Air Hostage and the capable Katies Easy Moves. The race is the main event on a card of eight stakes worth a total of $800,000. Of those races, five are major events in the traveling Challenge Championships series administered by the American Quarter Horse Association. The winner of the featured Challenge Championship, for 3-year-olds and up at 440 yards, earns a provisional berth into next month’s Champion of Champions, according to Los Alamitos.

Bh Lisas Boy is a multiple Grade 1 winner who has compiled a career record of 19 wins from 34 starts for earnings of $585,162. He ranks third among older horses in the latest national poll put out by the AQHA He earned his place in the gate for Saturday night’s race when he won the Grade 3 California Challenge by a nose over Hold Air Hostage on Aug. 11 at Los Alamitos.

“Probably his most exciting race was two back when he ran against Hold Air Hostage, a champion,” Hoburg said. “He just caught him at the wire.”

Bh Lisas Boy followed that with an uncharacteristic eighth in the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship on Oct. 14.

“I think the weather gremlins got us,” Hoburg said.

Hoburg said a “huge” rainstorm the weekend of the race had an impact on the inside of the track. Bh Lisas Boy broke from post 2 in the field of 10, and the outside horses fared best, he said.

“We were sinking-in five, six inches,” he said. “The horses were on two different surfaces.”

Hoburg said the circumstances were extenuating for Los Alamitos, and he is fine with post 4 on Saturday.

“I think the consistency of the track, 99 percent of the time, out of the one hole or the 10 hole, is a really good surface all the way across,” said Hoburg, who has given the mount to Cesar DeAlba.

Katies Easy Moves, much like Bh Lisas Boy, has been a special horse for his connections. He’s gone 13 for 28 as the first horse for the O-So Smart partnership of Rusty Lym and Curtis and Jennifer Earll.

“They’re familiar with the business – this is their first horse as partners,” said Monte Arossa, trainer of Katies Easy Move.

Katies Easy Moves has had some close calls in recent graded stakes at Los Alamitos. He was third by a neck in the California Challenge and one start later was fourth by a neck in the Boniface after breaking from post 5.

“I thought he ran a good race his last race,” Arossa said. “He broke super. I thought he ran super. There were horses coming down the outside and he was away from them. I was impressed with his race.”

Katies Easy Moves will break from post 2 under Eduardo Nicasio.

“I’m fine with the post,” Arossa said.

“It’s a great field of horses.”

Hold Air Hostage will break from post 11. He comes off a fifth-place finish in the Boniface, a race in which he started from post 4. Rodrigo Vallejo has the mount for Darling Farms and trainer Jaime H. Gomez.

Distaff draws field of 10

Arossa sends out the quick Duck Dash N Go and the sharp Kono in the Grade 1, $100,000 AQHA Distaff Challenge Championship at 400 yards. The horse to beat appears to be One Sweet Racy. Duck Dash N Go, however, was a memorable winner two back at Los Alamitos.

“She broke the track record for 100 yards,” Arossa said of an allowance win in September. “She’s a very fast gate horse. She’s won at 400 yards before, but I don’t think 400 yards is her best race. Hopefully, she gets a good lead on them and they have to run her down. She’s won 50 percent of her starts.”

◗ Gomez-trained Kr Hi Five will be looking for his fourth straight win when he breaks from the rail in the Grade 2, $125,000 John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship. Trainer Paul Jones will counter with Singles Cruise, a winner of his last three races who adds Lasix.

◗ Walcott will be looking for his fifth straight win when he runs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Adequan Derby Challenge Championship.

◗ Rare Ed draws the rail for the Grade 1, $100,000 Cox Ranch Distance Championship at 870 yards.