Jess Good Reason aims for Charger Bar Handicap repeat

Jess Good Reason was a 10-1 chance with much to prove when she won the $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap for Quarter Horse fillies and mares at Los Alamitos in January 2017.

Sunday, Jess Good Reason will start again in the Charger Bar Handicap at 400 yards, but this time is expected to be favored. Jess Good Reason was fourth, beaten three-quarters of a length in the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos against males on Dec. 16.

The Champion of Champions annually draws the toughest field of older Quarter Horses in the nation.

In 2017, Jess Good Reason won 2 of 6 starts. She was second by a nose in the Mildred Vessels Handicap for fillies and mares last September to Time for Jess, who is part of Sunday’s Charger Bar Handicap field. Time for Jess was eighth in the Champion of Champions, beaten 2 1/4 lengths by upset winner Mr PYC To You.

Jess Good Reason and Time for Jess are owned by Paragon Farms and trained by Paul Jones. The Charger Bar Handicap is the first six-figure race of the yearlong Los Alamitos night meeting of Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred races.

Jess Good Reason won the 2017 Charger Bar by a half-length for her fourth stakes win. In her final start of 2016, Jess Good Reason reared at the start of the Southern California Derby and unseated jockey Oscar Peinado. There were no such mishaps through 2017.

Sunday’s Charger Bar Handicap drew a field of 10, including the first three finishers of the Las Damas Handicap for fillies and mares at 400 yards on Nov. 25 – Thermonuclear Energy, Strawfinders Jessee, and Jess Mas. Strawfinders Jessee won an allowance race at 330 yards on Dec. 16.

There are two other prominent runners in Duck Dash N Go and Kiddy Up Cowgirl.

Duck Dash N Go has won her last two starts, including the minor A Ransom Handicap against males at 350 yards on Dec. 8.

Kiddy Up Cowgirl won the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders’ Derby on Oct. 6. Later in October, she was fourth in a division of the time trials for the Los Alamitos Super Derby, failing to qualify for the final.