Lethal Cowboy 123 in need of win in Vessels Maturity
Lethal Cowboy 123 is a champion in need of a win to revive his career in Sunday’s $142,900 Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos.
In December 2024, Lethal Cowboy 123 won the $1.8 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, a victory that clinched the title of champion 2-year-old gelding and overall champion 2-year-old Quarter Horse.
Lethal Cowboy 123 has not won a major stakes race since. Last November, Lethal Cowboy was fourth by a length in the $894,200 Los Alamitos Super Derby.
This year, Lethal Cowboy is winless in three starts in important races – a second by a nose in the $135,500 Brad McKinzie Winter Championship at Los Alamitos on March 8, a second by three-quarters of a length in the $105,280 Leo Stakes at Remington Park on May 2, and an eighth-place finish by 1 1/2 lengths in the $250,000 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship on May 30.
A win in the Vessels Maturity at 400 yards would not only reverse that trend but give Lethal Cowboy 123 a berth in the $700,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 12, the sport’s leading race for 3-year-olds and older horses.
Lethal Cowboy 123, trained by Marc Jungers, drew the outside post in a field of nine in the Vessels Maturity, the track’s leading race of the summer for older horses. Edwin Escobedo has the mount.
The 7-year-old gelding Scoops Dynasty has also struggled this year. Last summer and fall, Scoops Dynasty won two major stakes – the $75,000 Go Man Go Handicap at Los Alamitos in August and the $350,000 Challenge Championship in Albuquerque in October.
A winner of 11 of 33 starts, Scoops Dynasty was fifth by 2 1/2 lengths in the Leo Stakes in his most recent start. Scoops Dynasty was second by a neck in the 2023 Vessels Maturity.
The Vessels Maturity can offer some clarity in California’s older horse division. Favorite Jesshawk has not raced since a win in the Winter Championship, a victory that provided a berth to the Champion of Champions. Fdd Dreams, winner of the Champion of Champions last December, is based in Albuquerque this summer.
The only runners in the Vessels field with a stakes win this year are Cattail Cove, a 9-year-old gelding who won the $40,000 Kaweah Bar Stakes at 350 yards on April 26 in his 61st start, and Stettson, who won the Remington Park Challenge Championship at 440 yards on March 28.
Cattail Cove, a 14-time winner trained by Juan Aleman, ended a four-race losing streak with his nose win in the Kaweah Bar.
Stettson, owned by former champion jockey G.R. Carter, and his wife, Shaena, was last of 12 in the Remington Park Championship.
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