Chazaq, Lotta Blues Man renew rivalry in Golden State Derby

Chazaq and Lotta Blues Man won seven-figure futurities for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos five months apart last year.

Chazaq won the Ed Burke Million Futurity in June, beating third-place finisher Lotta Blues Man. Lotta Blues Man later won the Golden State Million in November and was second in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity a month later.

They meet for the first time in more than a year in Sunday’s $259,900 Golden State Derby at Los Alamitos.

Chazaq and Lotta Blues Man are part of a strong field of 10 that includes That Rico, who was second in the El Primero Del Ano Derby for males in April, and Kissed by an Eagle, who was sixth in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity last December.

Those four horses won time trials for the Golden State Derby on Aug. 6.

Kissed by an Eagle was the fastest qualifier, winning a division of the 400-yard trials in 19.54 seconds. Owned by Mark and Peggy Brown, Kissed by an Eagle won the Vandy’s Flash Handicap at 400 yards on June 25 when trained by Dennis Givens.

The gelding was later transferred to Roman Figueroa, the former jockey who began training earlier this summer. Figueroa, the son-in-law of late trainer Blane Schvaneveldt, won 913 Quarter Horse races at Los Alamitos, including the 1995 Champion of Champions on My Debut and the 1998 Ed Burke Million Futurity on First Sovereign.

Chazaq won the first of four trials Aug. 6 in 19.77 in his second start of the year. He won an allowance race at 300 yards on July 9 in his first start since finishing second in a division of the Los Alamitos Two Million trials last November. Chazaq did not qualify for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

Chazaq is trained by Jaime Gomez, who also qualified Cartel Sixes, who was seventh in the Ed Burke Million Futurity in June 2016 and fourth in the Golden State and Los Alamitos Two Million futurities last fall.

The Golden State Derby will be the fourth start of the year for Lotta Blues Man, who was a troubled eighth in the Dillingham Handicap at 400 yards May 6 and second to Kissed by an Eagle in the Vandy’s Flash Handicap.

That Rico, trained by Paul Jones, won the Independence Day Handicap at 300 yards July 1 and will be ridden by Jesus Ayala, the leading Quarter Horse rider at Los Alamitos this year with 69 wins through Thursday.