Los Alamitos: Fovee back with females in Charger Bar

Fovee finished last of 10 in the $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos, the victim of a bumping incident at the start.

“She got hammered,” trainer Juan Aleman said. “There was no chance of running. She got a little bump on a hock, but nothing major.”

For now, Fovee is finished racing against males in such top races. Sunday, Fovee starts against fillies and mares in the $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap, the first major stakes of 2012 for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos. Fovee won the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Handicap for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos in September. The Charger Bar could result in her third career stakes win for owner Robert Gentry of Lubbock, Texas.

“When Fovee runs her race, she can be tough against the boys,” Aleman said. “She has to have her kind of race. She has to break clean and stay out of trouble. She should run a big race on Sunday.”

Aleman has three mares in the field of 10 in the Charger Bar, which is run over 400 yards. The race drew 14 entrants, but will be limited to 10 starters. Aleman also starts Fredaville, the winner of two stakes at Remington Park last year, and the 8-year-old mare Chalala, who will be retired after this race, he said. Chalala won stakes in 2010 and 2011 but was a troubled seventh in the Las Damas.

Fredaville, also owned by Gentry, was fifth in the Las Damas Handicap for fillies and mares on Nov. 26, the victim of an incident at the gate when she broke falsely when another filly lunged toward the stall doors moments before the race.

“She thought it was time to go,” Aleman said. “She hit the gate, and after that the rider said she wasn’t the same. She didn’t pay attention at the break.”

The first three finishers of the Las Damas – Dash Back Perry, Getit Together and Kr Dragonfly – are entered in the Charger Bar.

Dash Back Perry will be heavily supported. Trained by Joe Bassett for owner-breeder Johnny Trotter, Dash Back Perry, 5, won the first stakes of her career in the Las Damas, but raced in trials for several major derbys and futurities at Los Alamitos and Ruidoso Downs in 2009 and 2010. Her best finish in those races was a third-place finish in the Texas Classic Derby at Lone Star Park in 2010.