Champion Quarter Horse Heza Dasha Fire heads trials for Winter Championships

Heza Dasha Fire, the 2015 World Champion Racing Quarter Horse, will have his 2016 debut in a time trial for the Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Sunday.

A 4-year-old gelding, Heza Dasha Fire is part of the field for the first of two 400-yard trials for the $139,700 final on Feb. 14. His rivals include Moonist, the champion aged gelding of 2015, and Bf Farm Boss, who won the Ruidoso Derby in New Mexico last June.

Heza Dasha Fire and Moonist were first and second in the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 12, a result that clinched the World Champion title for Heza Dasha Fire.

Owned by Don and Kathy Meneely and trained by Jose Antonio Flores, Heza Dasha Fire was unbeaten in five starts in 2015, including the Golden State and Los Alamitos Super derbies. The Champion of Champions was his first start against older horses.

Moonist was the leading older horse at Los Alamitos last year. He won 7 of 10 starts in 2015, including the Los Alamitos Championship in October. Moonist was second in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship last February, finishing a head behind Matabari.

There are 13 horses racing in two trials for the Winter Championship. The horses with the 10 fastest times, regardless of finishing positions, will advance to the final.

The second division is led by Jake Gold Br, who was third in the 2015 Los Alamitos Winter Championship, and Walk the Catwalk, who was third in the Southern California Derby on Dec. 20.