Heza Dasha Fire starts his year in Spencer Childers Championship

Heza Dasha Fire, the 2015 Quarter Horse World Champion, will start for the first time this year in Saturday’s $100,000 Spencer Childers Championship for older Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos, a race that could lead to a third consecutive start in the prestigious Champion of Champions in December.

Heza Dasha Fire will be a strong favorite in a field of five in the 400-yard Childers, the leading race for older horses on a 12-race program of all stakes. The evening program includes the $390,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity at 350 yards and the $203,000 Governor’s Cup Derby at 400 yards.

Heza Dasha Fire has not raced since finishing second in the Champion of Champions last December, a race he won in 2015 to clinch the World Champion title. Trained by Jose Antonio Flores for Don, Kathy, and Shawn Meneely of Kennewick, Wash., the 5-year-old Heza Dasha Fire has won 13 of 17 starts and earned $1,918,737.

In 2016, Heza Dasha Fire won 2 of 4 starts, including two leading races for older horses – the Go Man Go Handicap and the Los Alamitos Championship. He was beaten a head in the Champion of Champions as the 1-2 favorite by Zoomin for Spuds. The Go Man Go and Los Alamitos Championship are likely to figure on Heza Dasha Fire’s schedule this year.

The Childers field has one other millionaire in He Looks Hot, who won the 2014 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

The Governor’s Cup Futurity and Derby will be competitive betting races.

Chance to Fire was the fastest qualifier for the Governor’s Cup Futurity from time trials on July 8. Already this summer, Chance to Fire was third in the Ed Burke Million Futurity on June 18, the first of three seven-figure futurities at Los Alamitos this year.

Chance to Fire is trained by Christopher O’Dell, who also starts Effortless Effort, the second-fastest qualifier who is unbeaten in three starts. The Governor’s Cup Futurity will be Effortless Effort’s stakes debut in a field that includes J Fire Up, who was second in the Ed Burke Million Futurity and was a trial-race winner on July 8.

There are four fillies among the 10 finalists for the Governor’s Cup Derby, including One Sweet Runner, the fastest qualifier from the time trials on July 9. The Governor’s Cup Derby will be the first major stakes appearance for One Sweet Runner in her ninth start.

In the trials, One Sweet Runner beat Ajs Anna Smoke, who won the 2016 Governor Cup Futurity. The Governor’s Cup Derby field includes Katella Deli, who was third in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity last December.