Heza Dasha Fire seeks first win of year in Go Man Go Handicap

Heza Dasha Fire was unbeaten in five starts in 2015, the year he was honored as World Champion Quarter Horse. Eight months into 2016, Heza Dasha Fire has yet to win.

Heza Dasha Fire was winless in two starts in January and February before undergoing surgery to have a bone chip removed from a knee. The layoff ends Sunday, when Heza Dasha Fire starts in the $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap at Los Alamitos.

Much has changed since Heza Dasha Fire’s last start. Moonist, the champion aged horse of 2015, died in June after complications from colic surgery. Moonist beat Heza Dasha Fire in the trials and the final of the Los Alamitos Winter Championship this year.

The nation’s older horse division lacks a clear leader, a role the 4-year-old Heza Dasha Fire can take with a win in the Go Man Go Handicap at 400 yards.

“He’s been training well, and he looks awesome,” trainer Jose Antonio Flores said. “I’m happy.”

Flores said he was encouraged when Heza Dasha Fire worked 350 yards from the gate in 17.5 seconds Aug. 9 under jockey Cruz Mendez, who has the mount Sunday.

Heza Dasha Fire, a gelding by Walk Thru Fire, has won 11 of 14 starts and has earned $1,714,487 for Don, Kathy, and Shawn Meneely of Kennewick, Wash. The Meneelys bred Heza Dasha Fire, who won the Ed Burke and Golden State Million futurities in 2014.

Heza Dasha Fire won the Golden State Million from post 9 and the Champion of Champions from post 10. In the Go Man Go Handicap, Heza Dasha Fire drew the outside post in a field of nine.

A win Sunday would put Heza Dasha Fire closer to a start in the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 10. Last December, Heza Dasha Fire ran his best race to win the Champion of Champions over Moonist and clinch the World Champion title.

The Go Man Go field includes two 4-year-olds who were second in major stakes at Los Alamitos in July – Forget It, in the Spencer Childers Handicap, and Dutcher, in the Vessels Maturity. Another contender is Bh Lisas Boy, who won the Bank of America Challenge Championship on Aug. 14.