Far Niente, Significant Heart lead contenders for Christmas Handicap

CYPRESS, Calif. – The 2014 Grade 1 winners Far Niente and Significant Heart are the leading contenders for the $100,000 Christmas Handicap for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos on Saturday.

The Christmas Handicap will be run over 400 yards and is a replacement on the stakes schedule for the $600,000 Champion of Champions, which was canceled in November. At the time, track officials cited a need for nationwide need to “standardize and enforce regulation prohibiting clenbuterol,” track owner Ed Allred said.

Clenbuterol is a breathing medication allowed to appear in trace levels in some jurisdictions. Los Alamitos bans use of the medication in Quarter Horses.

In the past, the Champion of Champions played a pivotal role in year-end voting for championships. The race is scheduled to be offered in 2015 with hair-follicle testing conducting for clenbuterol on all qualifiers.

As a result of the cancelation of the Champion of Champions, the Christmas Handicap has eight probable starters, all based at Los Alamitos. Far Niente won the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity here in July, while Significant Heart won the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Handicap for fillies and mares in September.

Far Niente was fourth to Bon Accord in the Go Man Go Handicap on Sept. 20. Bon Accord, who qualified for the Champion of Champions by virtue of his win in the Remington Park Championship in the spring, is expected to run in the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park in New Mexico instead of the Christmas Handicap.

There are several other notable absentees from the Christmas Handicap, including the 3-year-old Moonist, who missed a start in late November because of a bruised foot; Last to Fire, the 2013 winner of the Champion of Champions; and Foose Cash Sr, who won the Los Alamitos Super Derby on Nov. 22.

Foose Cash Sr was not administered clenbuterol in preparation for the Super Derby, trainer Eloy Navarro said. Navarro said after the Super Derby, he was “pretty sure” Foose Case Sr was given clenbuterol at Ruidoso during the summer but emphasized that “I didn’t train him.”

Other candidates for the Christmas Handicap are Check N Fetch, Creole Williams, Jess Being Valiant, New Look, Once Over, and Separate Interest. Once Over won the Spencer Childers Championship for California-breds in July but is winless in his last three starts.

The field for the Christmas Handicap could grow before entries are drawn Tuesday.