Mental Error returns from layoff in optional claimer

Mental Error, who has qualified for three futurities and a derby in the last 16 months, faces a modest field in his first race in six months Sunday at Los Alamitos.

Mental Error, trained by Paul Jones for Bobby Simmons, has not raced since he finished sixth after a slow start in a division of the El Primero Del Ano Derby trials on March 8. A winner of 3 of 11 starts, Mental Error was second in the Kindergarten Futurity in his stakes debut in May 2019 and third in February in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby.

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Mental Error has made all of his starts at Los Alamitos.

Sunday, Mental Error starts in an allowance race with a $30,000 claiming option at 330 yards, his shortest race since a start in the 300-yard Kindergarten Futurity. The race is likely to serve as a prep for the Los Alamitos Super Derby time trials on Oct. 17. The final is Nov. 8, with the winner receiving a berth in the $600,000 Champion of Champions against older horses on Dec. 12.

Mental Error, a colt by Favorite Cartel, will need to show significant improvement to be among the top contenders for the Super Derby, one of the nation’s top races for 3-year-olds. He would need to duplicate his third-place finish in the Winter Derby, which was a productive race. Winner Tell Cartel won the El Primero Del Ano Derby and a time trial leading to that race. Runner-up You Can Run won a division of the El Primero Del Ano Derby trials and was sixth in the final. More recently, You Can Run was third in the Golden State Derby on Aug. 16.

The optional claimer drew a field of six.

The 3-year-old filly Fashin Icon is entered to be claimed. She won a $25,000 claimer on May 30 and was later fifth of seven in the Vandys Flash Handicap at 400 yards on June 28.