Holiday Handicap can serve as tightener for Winter Derby trials

The $20,000 Holiday Handicap for 2-year-olds on Saturday at Los Alamitos is a likely prep race for several runners to leading derbies in early 2021.

The Holiday Handicap is run at 350 yards, and the timing is ideal for a return start in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby trials at 400 yards on Jan. 23. The $200,000-estimated final for the Winter Derby is scheduled for Feb. 13.

Several of the eight runners in the Holiday Handicap have credentials required to be a factor in the Winter Derby trials.

Rox Win was second in the Corona Chick Handicap at 400 yards on Nov. 14. Candy Blood was fourth in the $200,000 All American Juvenile on Sept. 7 at Ruidoso Downs, the consolation of the $3 million All American Futurity.

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Proud Movin Renegade was second in the Wild West Futurity on Oct. 25 at Los Alamitos and won the $95,604 Bitterroot Futurity at Pocatello Downs on July 31 in Idaho, the premier futurity in the Pacific Northwest.

Sassies Blues Girl, who drew the outside post, was third by a neck in the Pat Hyland Handicap at 350 yards in August.

Candy Blood will have his Los Alamitos debut on Saturday. Now trained by Monty Arrossa, Candy Blood was fourth in the $826,260 Heritage Place Futurity on May 30 at Remington Park for trainer Guillermo Valdivia.

Owned and bred by Rick Sumner, Candy Blood won a division of the All American Futurity time trials on Aug. 22, finishing 440 yards in 21.49 seconds. The five fastest times from the 16 trials that day earned berths in the Labor Day final. Candy Blood had the sixth-fastest time.

Candy Blood has had one workout this month, going 220 yards in 12.3 seconds on Dec. 5.

Sassies Blues Girl, one of three fillies in Saturday’s field, was sixth in a division of the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity trials on Nov. 22 after a slow start. She has run well from an outside post in the past.

Saturday’s program is the opening day of the 2020-21 Los Alamitos meeting, which is scheduled through Dec. 21, 2021. The track received regulatory approval from the California Horse Racing Board to race through June 30 to allow a mid-year review of the track’s safety record, despite protestations from track owner Ed Allred for the track to be granted a license for the entire season.

Track officials will ask the racing board to reconsider its decision in January.