Opt Out becomes favorite in PCQHRA Breeders' Futurity

The talented gelding Opt Out has inherited the role of starting fastest qualifier and favorite for Saturday’s $375,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders’ Futurity at Los Alamitos.

Terrific Temper set the fastest qualifying time of 17.30 seconds for 350 yards from trials on Sept. 13, but bled in the race and was placed on a veterinarian’s list. She was not entered in Saturday’s final, leaving a field of nine.

The PCQHRA Breeders’ Futurity is the last of eight races on a program that begins at 6 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Opt Out, trained by Jose Flores for Bella Valenzuela, won a division of the trials in the quick time of 17.56. A winner of 3 of 5 starts, Opt Out was third by a neck in the $315,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity at 350 yards on July 25.

Opt Out won his trial for the PCQHRA Breeders’ Futurity by a length over the filly Reason to Fly MV, who also is trained by Flores and qualified for the final.

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“He’s better in the gate now, and that makes a world of difference,” Flores said of Opt Out.

Flores has three qualifiers, including No Hesitation, a gelding who in his first race at Los Alamitos won his trial on Sept. 13, finishing in 17.72. No Hesitation won the Utah-Bred Futurity on July 25 at Wyoming Downs when trained by Riley Moosman.

Trainer Jaime Gomez has three qualifiers, including the promising Thats R Best Card, who will be well supported. Thats R Best Card won a division of the trials in 17.70 in his first start since a fifth in the $1,115,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity on June 21.

Gomez’s other runners are The Best Feeling, third to Terrific Temper in the trials, and the filly Rite on Time, who won a division of the trials in 17.67. The PCQHRA Breeders’ Futurity is the first stakes final for both.

This is the third futurity appearance for BF Outfoosed, who was a troubled 10th in the Ed Burke Million Futurity and finished in a dead heat for fourth in the Governor’s Cup Futurity. In the trials, BF Outfoosed was second to Ynot the Favorite, who was timed in 17.79. Paul Jones trains BF Outfoosed.

Ynot the Favorite, trained by Mike Robbins, will have her stakes debut Saturday. She is one of three fillies in the final.