Hialeah: Quarter Horses vie for berths in $409,250 Hialeah Futurity
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Oldsmobile Hill, winner of the $282,250 Valley Junction Futurity at Prairie Meadows last time out, and Fetching Beauty, who upset the $325,000 Oklahoma Futurity this past spring, head a group of 64 2-year-olds seeking a berth Saturday in the richest race ever run for Quarter Horses at Hialeah Park.
Seven trials, starting in race 2 on an eight-race program that begins at 12:35 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, will be contested at 440 yards. The top 10 horses, based on final time, will advance to the $409,250 Hialeah Futurity on Dec. 29.
Oldsmobile Hill, a California-bred colt, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite among 10 runners in the first trial (race 2). He closed with a rush to win the Valley Junction Futurity by a head on Oct. 11. Now 3 for 6 lifetime, Oldsmobile Hill will be racing beyond 350 yards for the first time.
California-bred filly Fetching Beauty, the 5-2 morning-line choice in race 6, won the only race of her three-start career in the Grade 2 Oklahoma Futurity going 300 yards in March at Remington Park. In her only subsequent start in May, she veered in sharply at the start and was moved from fourth to eighth in a trial for the Grade 1 Heritage Place Futurity.
Brandon Muniz, last season’s top trainer at Hialeah, will saddle three morning-line favorites among his group of six runners in the trials. His top prospects are Winter Is Coming (race 3), Big Time Jp (race 4), and Quick Dynasty (race 5).
Trainer Brad Bolen has five horses entered in the trials.
“I think they’re all live,” Bolen said. “We only brought the ones we thought were good enough to qualify.”
Among his group, Bolen singled out Burningthenightaway (race 4), Isa Precious Patriot (race 5), and Surfins Easy (race 7). “They all ran in some pretty tough trials at Ruidoso and Lone Star,” Bolen said.