Heza Dasha Fire favored in Ed Burke

CYPRESS, Calif. – Heza Dasha Fire has had the perfect start to his career.

Heza Dasha Fire followed his win in a maiden race over 300 yards in late April with a convincing win in a division of the Ed Burke Million time trials June 8. Heza Dasha Fire set the fastest qualifying time of 17.40 seconds over 350 yards.

The $985,000 Ed Burke final is Sunday evening, and Heza Dasha Fire will be a heavy favorite to extend his unbeaten streak. Trainer Jose Antonio Flores expects continued improvement.

“I expected him to run well,” Flores said of the trials. “He did his job. He’s so professional.”

Heza Dasha Fire, a gelding by Walk Thru Fire, drew the rail in the Ed Burke, which has 10 runners. Flores would have preferred a stall on the outside half of the field.

Owned by breeders Don and Kathy Meneely of Kennewick, Wash., Heza Dasha Fire is one of six trial race winners in the field. The other four runners were second in trial races.

Trial winners Apollitical Blood, Bf Farm Boy, and Onepoliticalflight each is capable of an upset.

The Burke is the first leg of the Los Alamitos Bonanza, with a $1 million bonus to the owner of a horse who sweeps the track’s three major futurities. The final two legs are the Golden State Million in November and the Los Alamitos Two Million in December. The series has not been won since it was launched in 1998.

Flores said it is unlikely that Heza Dasha Fire will go to the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in August, even though the gelding would be competitive in such a race.

“Ruidoso is not in our plans,” he said. “We can give him a break, and we can come back for the last two [at Los Alamitos]. But we’ve got to get through the first one.”

◗ Flores said Friday that Glitter in My Face, the winner of the Kindergarten Futurity in 2013, was euthanized as a result of colitis at a Southern California veterinary clinic last Monday.

Owned by Flores’s father, Antonio, Glitter in My Face won 4 of 5 starts and $131,042.