McKinzie Winter Championship has revamped lineup

The $135,750 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Sunday is missing one of its most prominent qualifiers from the Jan. 26 time trials.

Jess Good Wine, third in the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in December and the winner of four stakes in 2024, was declared ineligible after testing positive for the banned medication carmoterol following a win in the All American Gold Cup at The Downs at Albuquerque last September.

The positive was announced by New Mexico racing officials on Wednesday. Jess Good Wine was placed on the New Mexico stewards’ list and cannot race until the case is adjudicated, officials said.

There were two trials for the Winter Championship on Jan. 26 that included 11 runners. Without Jess Good Wine, who was third in a trial, the remaining horses that started in the trials comprise Sunday’s field.

The revised lineup is led by fastest qualifier Unrelentless, a 4-year-old colt who won the first of two 400-yard trials in 19.69 seconds, and Bp Cartel Policy, the winner of three derbies at Los Alamitos in 2024.

Unrelentless, trained by Eddie Willis for Reliance Ranches, has yet to win a major stakes.

At 2 in 2023, he was second in the Golden State Million and sixth in the Los Alamitos Million futurities. Last year, Unrelentless was fourth in the Heritage Place Derby at Remington Park and ninth in the Rainbow Derby at Albuquerque.

Unrelentless, who drew the outside post on Sunday, has won his last three starts, including two minor stakes at Los Alamitos in November and December.

In the trials, Unrelentless finished a head in front of London Toby, the winner of the 2024 Winter Championship. London Toby won two more stakes at Los Alamitos last year before finishing last of 10 in the Champion of Champions after a troubled start.

A win on Sunday could produce a milestone for Scott Willoughby, who trains London Toby. Through Friday, Willoughby had 99 career stakes wins at Los Alamitos. He had a chance for a 100th victory with the longshot Norco in Saturday’s Los Alamitos Winter Derby.

The Winter Championship field includes Kevins Wise Corona, a trial race winner in 19.76 seconds on Jan. 26 and the third-place finisher in the Southern California Derby on Dec. 22.

There will be major support for Bp Cartel Policy on Sunday after the 4-year-old gelding finished second by a half-length at odds of 1-5 to Kevins Wise Corona in the trials.

Monty Arrossa trains Bp Cartel Policy and Scoops Dynasty, who was fifth in the Champion of Champions and gained a berth in Sunday’s race following the omission of Jess Good Wine. Arrossa had four horses test positive for carmoterol at Los Alamitos last fall, but can continue racing until his case is heard by California racing officials.