Party Politics looks to make amends for trials loss in El Primero Del Ano Derby
The 3-year-old Quarter Horse Party Politics had an inauspicious beginning to his 2023 season, finishing second after a poor start in a division of the El Primero Del Ano Derby trials at Los Alamitos on March 5.
Bettors will expect a sharper performance from the two-time futurity winner in Sunday’s $195,200 final of the El Primero Del Ano Derby.
Trained by Juan Aleman and owned by a syndicate of his family and friends, Party Politics was the leading 2-year-old at Los Alamitos for much of last year. He won the Ed Burke Million Futurity at 10-1 in June, and the Golden State Million Futurity at 5-1 against a better field in November.
A chance to sweep the track’s three seven-figure futurities ended when Party Politics finished second at 2-5 in a division of the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity trials on Nov 20. He did not run fast enough to earn a berth in the December final.
In the second of two El Primero Del Ano Derby trials, both at 400 yards, earlier this month, Party Politics stumbled badly at the start and could not recover, losing by 1 1/4 lengths to 16-1 Price Fixer.
Party Politics was timed in 20.13 seconds, quick enough for the sixth-fastest of 10 qualifying time. Party Politics, purchased for $100,000 as a yearling in New Mexico in 2021, has earned $860,705, by far the most in the El Primero Del Ano Derby field.
Jesus Ayala, who rode Party Politics for the first time in the El Primero Del Ano Derby trials, has the mount on Sunday.
Price Fixer will start in a major stakes on Sunday for the first time. He was the fastest qualifier from the trials. Trained by Monty Arrossa, Price Fixer was timed in 19.95 seconds in the trials.
Dont Sass Kvn won the first trial in 20.01 seconds as the 9-5 favorite and has shown improvement since returning from a layoff of more than two months at the end of December.
Dont Sass Kvn, trained by Paul Jones, was fifth in the Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Feb. 18, the track’s first major race of the year for 3-year-olds.
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