Los Alamitos: Freaky faces his former trainer's potent entry in Spencer Childers

The top race for older horses features a World Champion. The leading race for older females includes the winner of a seven-figure futurity. The evening’s derby is wide open and the corresponding futurity features a pair of juveniles who ran career-best races in recent time trials.

The California Breeders’ Champion Night for statebred Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos on Saturday features notable runners in four of the nine stakes on the 13-race program.

Freaky, the 2009 World Champion, will be favored in the $100,000 Spencer Childers Handicap over 400 yards, a race he won in his championship year when trained by Adan Farias. Owned by Armando Aguirre, Freaky is now trained by Mario Loza and will make his second start for him on Saturday, having won the Independence Day Handicap on July 3.

Farias has the best chance to upset his old stable star, with two leading candidates in the Childers – Snitcher and Chivalry Sr, who were first and second in the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity over 400 yards on June 19.

The program’s richest race is the $466,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity over 350 yards, which is led by Fixin to Fly and Ima Chickie Too, the second- and eighth-place finishers in the Kindergarten Futurity on May 22. Ima Chickie Too, trained by Farias, and Fixin to Fly, trained by Jim Hanson, won divisions of the Governor’s Cup Futurity time trials on July 16, setting the two fastest qualifying times.

Hot Hitter, the winner of the 2010 Governor’s Cup Futurity, will be favored in the $196,000 Governor’s Cup Derby over 400 yards.

Trained by Felipe Quintero, Hot Hitter made his 2011 debut in the Governor’s Cup Derby trials on July 15, setting the fastest qualifying time. In the second half of 2010, after his Governor’s Cup Futurity win, Hot Hitter was third in the Golden State Million and seventh in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

In the Governor’s Cup Derby, Hot Hitter faces Enjoy the Walk, who was third in the La Primera Del Ano Derby in April; and Personal Glory, third in the 2010 Ed Burke Million Futurity.

In 2009, The Partys On Fire was third in the Governor’s Cup Futurity and later won the Golden State Million Futurity. In Saturday’s $50,000 Matron Stakes, The Partys On Fire will attempt to win for the first time since October 2009 in the 400-yard race for fillies and mares.

Trained by Dan Francisco, The Partys on Fire was last of eight in the minor Prissy Fein Handicap on June 24. In the Matron Stakes, she faces Azshecanfly and Dash Beduina, the first two finishers of the Prissy Fein.