My Budd needs best behavior in Kindergarten Futurity

For a 2-year-old with one start, My Budd is “pretty high spirited,” according to trainer Heath Taylor.

Maybe a bit too much so.

“He’s not a kid’s horse,” Taylor told Los Alamitos publicity last month. “He’s a handful.”

My Budd is also brilliantly fast, and may go favored in Sunday’s $256,200 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity for 2-year-olds. The Kindergarten, run at 300 yards, is the season’s first futurity at Los Alamitos.

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My Budd, owned and bred by Keith Nellesen of Utah, drew the inside post in a field of 10. At the start, much of the focus will be on the inside of the field. Fear N Fridays, the fastest qualifier from eight time trials on April 21, drew post 2.

Fear N Fridays, trained by Monty Arrossa, won a division of the trials by 1 1/4 lengths in 15.66 seconds in his second start. My Budd was timed in 15.70 seconds in his career debut.

Arrossa has won the last three runnings of the Kindergarten with a filly owned or co-owned by Randy Young of Utah. Remarkably, Young and Arrossa can team for a fourth win with Hey Wauss, who was second to My Budd in the trials in his first start.

They are among five time trial race winners in the Kindergarten.

One of the keys for My Budd on Sunday is a smooth loading process. My Budd has displayed immature tendencies at times when schooled in the gate in recent months.

“A few times in the morning, he was a bit of a handful to load,” Taylor said. “He was always really, really good in the gate, but he was not too good behind the gate and not loading. We’ve been practicing.”

Once in the gate, My Budd is fitted with a flipping halter, a short rope attached to the front of the starting gate to a ring on the horse’s halter. The flipping halter, commonly known as a “rig”, keeps a horse’s head focused toward the front of the stall. When the gate opens, the halter releases and theoretically allows for a cleaner start.

At the abbreviated distance of 300 yards, even for a Quarter Horse race, a trouble-free start is vital.

Trial race winner Play Misty, one of three fillies in the Kindergarten, had a fine start in her time trial, finishing in 15.79 seconds. Play Misty is trained by Jaime Gomez for the Dutch Masters III partnership of Bill Dale and Jim Streelman.

Gomez has won the Kindergarten eight times, with four of the runners owned by Dutch Masters. Gomez also starts Exploiter, a gelding who was second to Fear N Fridays in the trials.

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