Heza Dasha Fire to be a short price in Ed Burke trials

Heza Dasha Fire ran a near-perfect race when he beat maidens in his debut in a 300-yard race in 15.26 seconds April 27 at Los Alamitos.

“I always get a little paranoid when horses run that fast the first time,” trainer Jose Antonio Flores said Friday. “I want to see how they come back.”

Through May, Flores saw progress from Heza Dasha Fire, who returns to racing Sunday in time trials for the Ed Burke Million Futurity.

“He came back good,” Flores said. “He’s ready to go for the trials.”

The emphatic maiden-race win will make Heza Dasha Fire one of the shortest prices in the 10 time trials. Heza Dasha Fire starts in the sixth race. The horses with the 10 fastest times, regardless of finishing positions in the 350-yard trials, will advance to the final June 22, which has a projected purse of $1 million.

Flores trains Heza Dasha Fire for breeders Don and Kathy Meneely. The gelding is by Walk Thru Fire out of Dasha Freda, who won the 2005 California Derby Challenge at Los Alamitos.

Flores will have a busy night Sunday. Along with Paul Jones, Flores has runners in all 10 trial races. Through the evening, Flores also starts the maiden-race winners Roaster in the fourth race, Vivid in the fifth race, and Fiery Kimbo in the eighth. They were all winners in late April or early May.

“All of them are really live,” Flores said. “They’ve really matured in these last days. You need mature horses in the trials.”

Jones has an excellent chance in Sunday’s fifth race with Off Beat, who was fifth May 18 in the Kindergarten Futurity, the season’s first stakes for 2-year-olds. Off Beat was bumped early in that 300-yard race and was beaten three lengths by race winner Old Girl.

Trained by Flores, Old Girl was not nominated for the Ed Burke Futurity and is not expected to race again until July.

There are two other trial runners with experience in futurities. In Sunday’s ninth race, Pink Berreta, third in the Kindergarten, and Phenomenal Jess, last of 10 on April 13 in the West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park, are leading contenders. Phenomenal Jess was trained by Gene Burden at Sunland Park and has joined Cody Joiner’s stable for the Ed Burke trials.