Los Alamitos: Hez Our Secret tries to earn way into Champion of Champions

For Saturday’s $15,000 Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial at Los Alamitos, Hez Our Secret does not have to deal with archrival Ochoa.

They may not be apart for long.

A win by Hez Our Secret on Saturday would lead to a rematch with Ochoa in the $750,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 14. The winner of Saturday's 400-yard trial receives a berth into the Champion of Champions, a race that plays a pivotal role in voting for the World Champion Running Quarter Horse.

Ochoa is one of eight horses who have qualified for the Champion of Champions by winning major races this year. On Oct. 13, Ochoa won the Los Alamitos Championship. Hez Our Secret was second by three-quarters of a length. In 2012, Ochoa won the All American Derby, with Hez Our Secret second.

Trained by Trey Wood, Hez Our Secret won the 2012 Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Trial and was fourth to Rylees Boy in the Champion of Champions. Hez Our Secret has won 6 of 17 starts and $855,051.

“If it weren’t for Ochoa, he’d have made about $2 million,” Wood said.

Hez Our Secret has drawn the rail in a field of seven on Saturday. He broke from the inside in the Los Alamitos Championship.

“He’ll have to run the race of his life,” Wood said. “He can’t make any mistakes.”

Saturday’s field includes Cold Cash 123, the 2011 World Champion who was eighth in the 2012 Champion of Champions. Trained by Sleepy Gilbreath, Cold Cash 123 was a game second in the Bank of America Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos on Nov. 9.

The other runners are the 2013 stakes winners Bf Farm Boy, Separate Interest, Significant Heart, and Specials Gold, and Jess Lips, who was third in the Los Alamitos Championship.

They can join a Champion of Champions field that includes Check N Fetch, Feature Hero, Last to Fire, Matabari, Ochoa, Priceless Feature, Rylees Boy, and Vodka with Ice. Another berth is available to the winner of Saturday’s Zia Park Championship in New Mexico.