Favorite Jesshawk makes Governor's Cup Futurity third straight win

Favorite Jesshawk was not the top betting choice in Saturday’s $277,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos, but performed like a colt in that role to record his third consecutive win.

Ridden by Ricardo Ramirez, Favorite Jesshawk ($9) was away well from post 2 in a field of 10 and won by three-quarters of a length over 8-1 Party Time Tom. Midnight Mood (4-1) finished third, beaten slightly less than a length, while the 3-1 favorite Listen Now was unable to overcome a sluggish start and finished eighth.

Favorite Jesshawk ran 350 yards in 17.65 seconds and earned $113,400 for owner and breeder Enrique Gonzalez. Trained by Jesus Nunez, Favorite Jesshawk won a 300-yard maiden race in his third start on June 15 and was the fastest qualifier to the Governor’s Cup Futurity, winning a division of the trials in 17.71 seconds on July 6.

The Governor’s Cup Futurity was the richest of three six-figure races at Los Alamitos on Saturday.

London Toby won his third stakes in his last four starts in the $100,000 Spencer Childers Handicap at 400 yards, a race the 6-year-old gelding won in 2023.

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London Toby ($2.80) was timed in 19.70 seconds, finishing three-quarters of a length in front of 12-1 Cattail Cove in a field of five. Gabriel Lara rode London Toby.

Owned and bred by Los Alamitos track owner Ed Allred, London Toby won the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship in February and the minor Be a Bono Stakes on June 16 before finishing third behind 2022 World Champion Empressum in the Vessels Maturity on July 7.

The win in the Winter Championship gave London Toby a provisional berth to the $700,000 Champion of Champions, the nation’s leading race for older Quarter Horses.

A winner of 8 of 19 starts, London Toby is trained by Scott Willoughby.

Trainer Jose Flores won the 100th stakes of his career when Mask Mandate ($30.80) scored an upset in the $161,700 Governor’s Cup Derby at 400 yards. Ridden by Cruz Mendez, Mask Mandate finished a half-length in front of 5-2 favorite Checkn Cartel.

Mask Mandate was timed in 19.96 seconds. A gelding who races for the partnership of Paul Blanchard, Santos Montemayor, Guadalupe Bujanda and Flores, Mask Mandate was fourth in the 2023 Governor’s Cup Futurity.

Flores, 49, joins Blane Schvaneveldt, Jaime Gomez, Paul Jones and John Cooper as Quarter Horse trainers at Los Alamitos with at least 100 stakes wins.

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