Champions berth on the line in Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Championship
There are several familiar names but no clear favorite among the 10 older horses in Saturday’s $125,000 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Championship at Los Alamitos.
The 440-yard race may determine the rankings in the division in advance of the $600,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 11, the nation’s top race for older Quarter Horses.
The winner of the Los Alamitos Championship receives a berth to the Champion of Champions, although two runners already hold that distinction.
Powerful Favorite earned a berth with a win in the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship in February. He was beaten in two stakes at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico in late summer.
Circle City won the Vessels Maturity in July, the top summertime race for older horses at Los Alamitos, and earned a position in the Champion of Champions gate for that victory.
You Can Run holds a provisional berth by having won the Go Man Go Handicap on Aug. 29, which will be a full berth if a horse wins two qualifying races, or if a qualified horse is not entered in the Champion of Champions.
The Los Alamitos Championship drew a field of 10, including 2020 winner Chocolatito and Apollitical Pence, who won the 2020 Champion of Champions.
Apollitical Pence was fourth as the 7-10 favorite in the Go Man Go Handicap in his first start of the year at Los Alamitos. Apollitical Pence won a stakes at Remington Park in the spring.
Chocolatito was sixth in the Go Man Go Handicap after a slow start. He drew the outside post in this field, and won the 2020 Los Alamitos Championship from an outside post.
Chocolatito, Circle City and Nomadic are trained by Scott Willoughby for Los Alamitos owner Ed Allred. Circle City and Nomadic are 4-year-old full brothers, bred via embryo transfer.
Nomadic was second by a head to You Can Run in the Go Man Go Handicap at 400 yards on Aug.29.
Circle City won the Spencer Childers Championship in late July and was held out of the Go Man Go Handicap in favor of an autumn campaign.
Bail Czech, Cattail Cove, Other World and Really First Down are the other starters, and a victory by one them would be a surprise.