Los Alamitos: Beautiful Fire tops first of 13 Ed Burke trials

Beautiful Fire won her debut in a 300-yard maiden race at Los Alamitos on May 12 about as well as can be expected for a 2-year-old Quarter Horse filly, by 1 1/4 lengths in the fast time of 15.31 seconds.

The win was a good start to her career, trainer Christopher O’Dell said, but left him anxious to see if she can prove more. “I’ve been around enough to not get too excited,” he said. “She hasn’t proven herself yet.”

Beautiful Fire will have every chance to do that in Sunday’s trials for the Ed Burke Million Futurity over 350 yards. A filly, Beautiful Fire starts in the first of 13 divisions of time trials. The 10 fastest qualifying times, regardless of finishing positions, will advance to the final on June 24.

“She ran a bang-up race in her first out,” said O’Dell, 51. “There are a lot of good things to stay about her.

“We think we’ve got something special. She needs to show us that.”

If Beautiful Fire wins her division of the trial, Sunday evening’s program will become a waiting game for O’Dell, and the filly’s owner, Zory Kuzyk. They will watch the final times of the next 12 races intently to see where Beautiful Fire ranks. Beautiful Fire was purchased by Kuzyk for $83,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale last fall.

Trainers Juan Aleman and Paul Jones have runners in each trial. It is conceivable that Aleman could win seven or eight of the races. Of course, the final times will determine whether the evening is successful.

Aleman’s team is led by The Cartel Straw, who was second in the Kindergarten Futurity on May 20. The Cartel Straw starts in the 10th race on Sunday.

Aleman also starts the promising maiden race winners Remembering Spence (second race), Cartel Karma (third), Bon Accord (fourth), Starlite Delight (sixth), Watch Linda Ballet (11th), and Tres Especial (13th).

Jones starts Revv Me Up, who was fifth in the Kindergarten, in the 12th trial, the same division that drew Mr Ease Cartel, who was third in the Kindergarten.

There are three other Kindergarten runners starting on the program – Super Long Straw, sixth in the Kindergarten, runs in the fifth race; Jess Another Czech, 10th in the Kindergarten, runs in the sixth; and To Catch This Wagon, ninth in the Kindergarten, runs in the seventh race.