Los Alamitos: The Ocean King fastest qualifier for Maiden Stakes

CYPRESS, Calif. – The Ocean King is the fastest qualifier for Sunday’s $112,000 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes for 3-year-olds. The race is restricted to horses that were maidens as of Dec. 1 and is designed for late-developing 2-year-olds or those who had training setbacks during that season.

The Ocean King would qualify on both counts.

Trained by Paul Jones, The Ocean King has won 2 of 5 starts and earned just $9,290. A shin injury kept him from making his debut until late September. The colt needed four races to beat maidens, finally doing so on Dec. 27. He won a division of the Maiden Stakes trials on Feb. 1, running 350 yards in 17.35 seconds.

“He needed a bit more time,” Jones said Thursday. “The family has been that way. He’s a bit of a late developer.”

The Ocean King is out of Runaway Wave, the dam of two champions. The Ocean King is a half-brother to Wave Carver, who earned $1,005,946 and was the 2006 World Champion Running Quarter Horse, and Ocean Runaway, who earned $1,642,498 and was the 2004 overall champion 2-year-old.

By Corona Cartel, Ocean King was bred by Dan Lucas and is owned by him and Hugo Barron Sierra, Vaughn Cook, and Ron and Denise VanAmburgh.

Jones considers the Maiden Stakes to be a launching race for more lucrative stakes later this year for The Ocean King.

“It’s a good race for horses that were injured early in their 2-year-old years and were turned out,” he said.

Jones has five of the 10 runners.

Trainer Juan Aleman starts Another Oatie, a trial race winner in 17.50 seconds. Aleman’s stable is in the midst of an excellent month, having won the Los Alamitos Winter Championship last weekend with Nellie Delaney.

Another Oatie won for the first time in his five-race career in the Maiden Stakes trials.

“He won the last trial and there was no wind,” Aleman said. “[Most of] the horses in the earlier trials had 10- to 15-mile-per-hour tailwinds. Basing it on that, I think he has a shot.

“He’s not the quickest horse, but in the last race he got away and won.”