Fastest-qualifier Val Frida may be fair price in Kindergarten
The filly Val Frida will start in Sunday’s $297,900 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos as the fastest qualifier for the first major juvenile race of the year at the California track.
Val Frida ran 300 yards in 15.53 seconds in a division of the time trials on April 25 to win for the first time in her second start.
While fastest qualifiers for futurities often receive widespread attention from bettors, Val Frida may be overlooked in a field of 10 in the Kindergarten.
Val Frida is trained by Jesus Nunez, who has trained several prominent stakes winners at Los Alamitos but has never won the Kindergarten. Most recently, Nunez was eighth in the 2019 Kindergarten with Corona Lake.Val Frida’s main competition includes fellow trial race winners Docs Fastlane, FG Jess Seis, and Southern Best. They are trained by Jaime Gomez, who has won the Kindergarten a record eight times, most recently last year with La Jaconde.
Southern Best was the fastest of the Gomez runners in the trials, winning a division by a half-length in 15.62. Docs Fastlane (15.63) and FG Jess Seis (15.64) were not far behind in the rankings of trial times.
Southern Best is the most experienced runner in the Kindergarten, having won 2 of 3 starts. After finishing third in his debut in a maiden special weight race at 220 yards on March 20, Southern Best won a maiden race at that distance on April 10.
The Gomez-trained runners are geldings. Val Frida is one of four fillies in the Kindergarten field, and they rate as a formidable group.
The filly La Blue Amore is unbeaten in two starts, a maiden race at 220 yards on March 20 and a time trial for the Kindergarten in 15.59. Trained by Chris O’Dell, La Blue Amore is out of Amore La Blue, who was third in the $1.1 million Golden State Million Futurity at Los Alamitos in 2012.
Val Frida, La Blue Amore, and Southern Best will break side-by-side in posts 3 through 5.
The unbeaten Docs Fastlane, who will be ridden by Oscar Peinado and figures to be well-backed, starts from post 7. Docs Fastlane won his debut in a 220-yard maiden race on March 28 and overcame a slow start to win a division of the time trials at 2-5.
There are four maidens among the finalists, including the filly Midnite Fling, who was a respectable third in her debut in the trial behind Val Frida. Midnite Fling drew the outside post in this field, a favorable draw.