Circle City using Kaweah Bar as stepping-stone to Vessels Maturity trials
Circle City, the 5-year-old Quarter Horse gelding, is in the midst of a familiar schedule this spring at Los Alamitos.
Last year, Circle City was sixth in a division of the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship trials in January and was rested in late winter before finishing third in the Kaweah Bar Handicap in May.
On Saturday, Circle City starts in the $35,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap at 350 yards for his first start following a similar rest. The difference this year is Circle City qualified for the Winter Championship and was third by a length to the highly regarded Apollitical Pence.
A rendezvous with Apollitical Pence in major stakes later this year is possible, pending how Circle City performs in a field of eight in the Kaweah Bar Handicap. The minor stakes is designed as a prep for the Vessels Maturity, the track’s leading summer race for older horses. The Vessels Maturity trials will be run June 11 with a $150,000-projected final on July 3.
Circle City, who won the Vessels Maturity last year, has won 8 of 24 starts and earned $466,517 for owner and breeder Ed Allred and trainer Scott Willoughby. Circle City has the second-highest earnings of the Kaweah Bar entrants, behind Cattail Cove who has earned $532,807.
Circle City and Cattail Cove were second in lucrative futurities in 2019.
The Kaweah Bar distance may be a slight problem for Circle City, who has been better at 400 yards through his career. The 2021 Kaweah Bar is his only previous start at 350 yards.
The race includes the first four finishers of the $35,000 Moonist Stakes at 400 yards on March 20 – Mister Tornado, Just a Dasha Hero, Cattail Cove, and Bail Czech – as well as You Can Run, who won the $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap last August.
Mister Tornado won the Moonist in a 16-1 upset for trainer Felix Gonzalez. The Moonist was the 5-year-old gelding’s second stakes win in 30 starts.