Los Alamitos 400-yard mark falls

Ocean Runaway, the 2-year-old champion male of 2004, broke a 15-year-old track record on Saturday in a time trial for the $500,000 Champion of Champions for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos on Dec. 10.

Ocean Runaway ran 400 yards in 19.305 seconds, breaking the mark of 19.34 seconds set by Takin on the Cash in 1990. Ocean Runaway's trial win came seven days after he finished second to Apollitical Time in the Los Alamitos Super Derby, a race that carried an automatic berth to the Champion of Champions.

There were four qualifiers from Ocean Runaway's division - runner-up Righteous Brother, as well as Like Frankie and Me and Apollos Favorite, who finished in a dead heat for third. LDS Dash for Dylan, 3, qualified by winning the first of two trials.

Those five will be joined in the 440-yard final by as many as five horses who qualified by winning major stakes earlier this year, including Apollitical Time, DM Shicago (the winner of All American Derby), Catchmeinyourdreams (Los Alamitos Championship), and Whosleavingwho (Los Alamitos Winter Championship).