Call Me Candela going for rare double in Ed Burke Futurity
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The filly Call Me Candela can become the second Quarter Horse in the last decade to sweep the first two futurities of the year at Los Alamitos when she starts from the outside post in Sunday’s $1 million Ed Burke Million Futurity.
Call Me Candela won the $254,500 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity by a nose at 300 yards on May 10 in her third start and followed with a nose win in a 350-yard time trial for the Ed Burke on May 31. The only dual Kindergarten-Burke winner in the last decade was Political Rivalry in 2023. Not all Kindergarten winners have started in time trials for the Burke in that span.
Wicked Affair won the 2018 Kindergarten and was second in the Ed Burke final. La Jaconde in 2020 and Valiantli in 2022 followed wins in the Kindergarten with third-place finishes in the Burke.
For Sunday’s race, Call Me Candela recorded the sixth-fastest qualifying time of 17.83 seconds.
Trained by Jose Flores for owner and breeder Miguel Osorio, Call Me Candela has won 3 of 4 starts and is the most experienced entrant in the Burke, the first of three annual seven-figure futurities at Los Alamitos. The Golden State Million Futurity will be run on Oct. 25 and the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity will occur on Dec. 13.
Call Me Candela is the only runner from the Kindergarten in the Burke. Two other Kindergarten finalists failed to qualify for the Burke from 12 time trials. The runners with the 10 fastest times from those trials advanced to Sunday’s final. The finalists include seven trial-race winners and three second-place finishers.
Call Me Candela is one of four fillies in the Burke, a group that includes the impressive trial race winner Mp Jess Rockin. Trained by Sergio Morfin, Mp Jess Rockin won a trial by 1 3/4 lengths in 17.81 seconds, the widest margin of victory in the trials.
Zionsville set the fastest qualifying time of 17.73 by winning the first trial by a half-length over Flying Dynasty 123, who had the third-fastest time of 17.80.
Zionsville, trained by James Glenn Jr., for Los Alamitos track owner Ed Allred, is unbeaten in two starts, beginning with a maiden race at 300 yards on May 2.
Sunday’s program is the only evening racing at Los Alamitos this weekend. A program scheduled for Saturday evening was canceled because of insufficient entries, officials said.
Los Alamitos began its three-week daytime Thoroughbred meeting on Friday, which runs through July 5. There are 16 races at Los Alamitos on Sunday between the afternoon and evening programs.
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