Kendall Jackson chasing $100K bonus

Kendall Jackson, owned by Mac and Janis Murray, will try to move closer to a $100,000 bonus when he starts in the trials to the Grade 3, $56,975 West Texas Maturity on Friday afternoon at Sunland Park.

The 10 fastest qualifiers from the three 400-yard trials qualify for the March 2 finals.

Kendall Jackson won the Grade 3 Sunland Express Handicap on Jan. 19. He will earn the $100,000 bonus if he can also win the West Texas Maturity and the $100,000-added MBNA America New Mexico Challenge Championship on April 7.

Kendall Jackson won the Grade 3, $108,755 West Texas Derby at Sunland Park last year.

Joining Kendall Jackson in the third trial is Heza Motor Scooter, winner of the Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos. Royal N Rowdy, winner of the Grade 3 Sunland Park Fall Derby, is in the second trial.

McArthur-trained champs return

Trainer Donna McArthur is bringing out her two champion females - Corona Kool and Tiny First Effort - for the trials to the Grade 1, $200,000 Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

The 10 fastest qualifiers from the two 400-yard trials will return for the March 2 finals.

Corona Kool, the 2001 champion aged mare owned by Lucas Racing Inc., would have been one of the favorites in the 2001 Champion of Champions, but she was scratched due to a gate accident before the start of the race.

"She jumped straight up in the air [in the gate]," McArthur said. "She was body sore and scraped up her left hind leg. After a couple of days she was back to her old self."

The Winter Championship trials will be Corona Kool's first start since being scratched.

Last year, Corona Kool earned her championship title with Grade 1 wins in the Los Alamitos Championship and the Charger Bar Handicap.

Tiny First Effort, the 2001 champion 3-year-old filly owned by Henry Brown, won three stakes races last year, including the Grade 1 Southern California Derby.

The Winter Championship is the first step to the Grade 1, $500,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 14. The Winter Championship winner earns an invitation to the Champion of Champions.

An early year Champion of Champions qualification means the horse's connections do not have to "chase" a Champion of Champions berth. They can point the horse to the Champion of Champions, the race that usually produces the annual world champion.

New Mexico-breds at Sunland

Wagons Maiden is expected to go for her fourth straight win when 3-year-old New Mexico-breds start in the $100,000-added New Mexico Horse Breeders Association Quarter Horse Stakes at Sunland Park on Sunday afternoon.

Wagons Maiden, owned by George Martin and Toni Hopper, has wins over statebreds in the Grade 3, $106,000 New Mexico Breeders Futurity and the Grade 2, $183,000 Shue Fly Stakes in her last three starts.

Also expected are Zia Futurity winner Rabbits Jet and Clovis Classic winner De Talker.