Famous Shining Star tries to stretch win streak in Vessels Memorial

Unbeaten in four starts this year, Famous Shining Star can clinch the 2023 championship for older Quarter Horse fillies and mares with a win in Saturday’s $125,000 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap at Los Alamitos.

The Vessels Memorial Handicap, run for fillies and mares at 400 yards, is the track’s richest race for older females, worth slightly more than two $100,000 races at 400 yards earlier in the year – the Charger Bar Handicap in January and the Abigail Kawananakoa Stakes in June.

The winner of the Vessels Memorial Handicap receives a berth in the $750,000 Champion of Champions at 440 yards on Dec. 9, the sport’s most prestigious race for older horses.

Famous Shining Star began her current winning streak in the Charger Bar Handicap and was rested until early June when she returned to win the minor Check Her Twice Stakes at 400 yards. She added wins in a 300-yard allowance race in July and the minor California Distaff Challenge at 400 yards against three rivals in August.

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The Vessels Memorial Handicap drew a field of nine, the largest group Famous Shining Star has faced this year.

Trained by Jose Flores for Johnny Trotter of Hereford, Texas, Famous Shining Star drew the outside post and will be ridden by Cruz Mendez, who was aboard for her last two wins.

Through the winning streak, Famous Shining Star has consistently started well, an issue that plagued her in 2022 when she won 2 of 8 starts. Her 2022 season included two minor stakes wins, but an eighth-place finish in the Vessels Memorial Handicap after a slow start.

Famous Shining Star has several familiar rivals Saturday, notably Lil Longmire and Toxic Relationship who were second and third in the California Distaff Challenge.

Lil Longmire, who drew the inside in Saturday’s race, had her first start of 2023 in the California Distaff Challenge. She won four times in 10 starts last year, including a victory in the Firecracker Derby at Delta Downs in Louisiana.

Saturday’s field includes the first four finishers of the Kawananakoa Stakes – Letty Cartel, Cir Lady Moon, She Goes Up, and Sweet Tess.

Letty Cartel, sixth in the Charger Bar in January, followed that win with a victory in the California Matron Stakes for statebreds at 400 yards on July 29.

Sweet Tess, third in the Charger Bar, won the 2022 Los Alamitos Oaks.

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