Champions berth at stake in Mildred Vessels Memorial

CYPRESS, Calif. - Kiddy Up Cowgirl and Thermonuclear Energy, the two leading older Quarter Horse females at Los Alamitos, will meet for the first time since January in Sunday’s $125,000 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap.

The winner of the 400-yard race will receive an automatic berth to the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 15, a race that plays a vital role in year-end voting. Both Kiddy Up Cowgirl and Thermonuclear Energy have credentials to be considered for the title of 2018 champion aged mare.

Kiddy Up Cowgirl won the Charger Bar Handicap for fillies and mares at 400 yards on Jan. 7 at 21-1, finishing a neck in front of Thermonuclear Energy. Kiddy Up Cowgirl was rested through winter and early summer before finishing a troubled fifth behind Thermonuclear Energy in the Matron Stakes at 400 yards at Los Alamitos on July 28 in her only subsequent start.

Thermonuclear Energy won her third stakes in the last year in the Matron. She won the Las Damas Handicap last November and the Ivan Ashment Handicap in June, both at Los Alamitos.

Thermonuclear Energy, who races for the Parsons Family partnership and trainer Chris O’Dell, was fourth in the 2017 Mildred Vessels Handicap, beaten a neck. Kiddy Up Cowgirl, owned by Leah and David Nelson and trained by James Glenn Jr., won the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders’ Derby last October for her first major stakes win.

O’Dell also runs One Sweet Racy, who won the California Distaff Challenge at 400 yards on Aug. 12 and was second in the 2017 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs.

The Mildred Vessels Handicap is the only race restricted to fillies and mares with an automatic berth for the Champion of Champions.