Dreams Divine brings fastest qualifying time to Ed Burke Million Futurity

The fastest qualifying time for Sunday’s $1,070,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos was set at the start of the 11 time trials on June 9.

In the first trial that evening, Dreams Divine ran 350 yards in 17.56 seconds. None of other 10 trial race produced as quick of a time. What was remarkable was the second- through fifth-place finishers from the first race had times that ranked among the 10 fastest of the evening, quick enough to gain berths in the final.

Such lopsided yields from one race are not uncommon at a venue such as Ruidoso Downs, where wind and weather can lead to rapid changes in conditions. Such occurrences are rare at Los Alamitos where the weather is typically calmer.

Dreams Divine is expected to be favored in the Ed Burke, the first of three seven-figure futurities at Los Alamitos this year. One of five fillies in the final, Dreams Divine qualified with a clocking of 17.56 seconds, aided by some extent to a six-mile-per-hour tailwind.

Trained by Mike Robbins for Reliance Ranches, Dreams Divine is one of three finalists in the Burke who ran in the $361,700 Kindergarten Futurity at 300 yards on May 19, the first stakes for 2-year-olds at Los Alamitos this year. Dreams Divine finished third. Mental Error was second in the Kindergarten and won a division of the Burke trials, while Spectacular Corona was seventh in the Kindergarten and fifth behind Dreams Divine in the Burke trials.

Spectacular Corona is one of four Burke finalists trained by Chris O’Dell, who runs trial winners Determined One, Geothermal, and Tea Pod.

Of the four, the filly Geothermal had the fastest qualifying time, 17.68 seconds, run at a time without wind. She is unbeaten in two starts and has an outstanding pedigree. Her dam, Terrific Energy, won two major stakes at Los Alamitos in 2009.

The fastest male qualifier was the gelding Flokie, who won a division of the trials in 17.62 seconds, for the second-fastest time. He had a three-mile-per-hour crosswind. Trained by Jose Flores, Flokie drifted to the outside while clear in the trials. If he can run a truer race in the final, he can be a factor, Flores said.

“He’s still a little erratic, but hopefully he can put it all together for the final,” Flores told Los Alamitos publicity on the night of the trials. “He’s a monster. He’s a big, physical horse.”