Champion Kiss Thru Fire heads Denim N Diamonds at Los Alamitos
Kiss Thru Fire had as good a January as can be expected for a Quarter Horse mare.
On Jan. 2, Kiss Thru Fire won her first start of the year in the $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap at Los Alamitos, one of the nation’s top races of the year for older females. Ten days later, Kiss Thru Fire was named champion aged mare of 2021 in a ceremony in Oklahoma City.
Owned by Kirk Gentry and trained by Juan Aleman, Kiss Thru Fire will have her second start of 2022 in Saturday’s $35,000 Denim N Diamonds Handicap for fillies and mares at 350 yards. Kiss Thru Fire won the Charger Bar and Denim N Diamonds handicaps in 2021, and later in the year won two more minor stakes at Los Alamitos.
Saturday’s Denim N Diamonds Handicap drew a full field of 10 and is the last of 10 races at Los Alamitos. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.
Kiss Thru Fire will be ridden by Diego Herrera, who through Sunday has the unique position of being in the top 10 in the standings among Quarter Horse riders at Los Alamitos and Thoroughbred riders at Santa Anita. Herrera, 17, is a Thoroughbred apprentice through late April.
Herrera gained the mount on Kiss Thru Fire on the evening of Jan. 2, when her scheduled rider, Raul Valenzuela, was unable to make a weight assignment. Valenzuela has not ridden since Dec. 18.
Kiss Thru Fire stumbled slightly at the start of the Charger Bar Handicap at 400 yards, but recovered quickly to win by a half-length as the 8-5 favorite. Kiss Thru Fire will be favored in the Charger Bar and has familiar rivals in Roving Kind and stablemates Astranomical and College Scandal.
Roving Kind, trained by Scott Willoughby, was third by a half-length in the Charger Bar. Astranomical was second to Kiss Thru Fire in the Las Damas Handicap in November, but was promoted to first after Kiss Thru Fire was ruled to have caused interference and disqualified. Trained by Aleman, Astranomical was fifth in the Charger Bar after exchanging bumps with a rival.
College Scandal, trained by Aleman, was last of 10 in the Charger Bar after a slow start. Owned by Gentry, College Scandal won the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders’ Derby at Los Alamitos in October.