Other World comes from solid connections

Judging from trainer Scott Willoughby’s success last weekend, the gelding Other World will command attention in a 300-yard maiden race Friday evening at Los Alamitos.

Willoughby won with three of the four horses he started at Los Alamitos on July 3 and Sunday, the only days the track ran its evening Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred programs last week. Willoughby finished the weekend with a victory by Chocolatito in the $157,400 Vessels Maturity on Sunday, a win that gave the 4-year-old a berth in the $600,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 12 at Los Alamitos.

Other World and Chocolatito are owned by Los Alamitos track owner Ed Allred, for whom Willoughby is a private trainer. Other World was third in his debut by three-quarters of a length in a 300-yard maiden race on June 13 and could have been closer to the front had he not drifted to the inside with 200 yards remaining.

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Other World is part of a field of six in Friday’s eighth race and will be ridden by Vinnie Bednar, who was aboard for his first and only start. Bednar is the regular rider of Chocolatito and rides first call for Willoughby.

Other World, a gelding by Foose, drew post 4, outside of his two leading rivals – Watch Over Bella and the filly Accrued Interest.

Watch Over Bella, trained by Jose Flores, was third by a neck in a division of the Ed Burke Million Futurity trials at 350 yards on June 7 in his second start. Jess Paint Me, who won that trial, finished ninth in the final on June 21.

Accrued Interest, trained by Mike Casselman, was fourth in a 300-yard maiden race on June 14 as the 5-2 second choice in her debut, losing all chance when she broke slowly.

Chocolatito is not expected to have an extensive campaign in the buildup to the Champion of Champions, which Allred, Willoughby, and Bednar won with He Looks Hot last year. He Looks Hot was the 2019 Quarter Horse World Champion and was retired in January after a loss in the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship trials.

Sadly, He Looks Hot was lost to colic last month, Willoughby said last weekend. He Looks Hot, who was 8, had battled colic earlier in his life.

Willoughby said Chocolatito is a candidate for races such as the Go Man Go Handicap on Aug. 30 and the Los Alamitos Championship on Oct. 11.