Six trials to determine finalists for Hialeah Derby

A Grade 2 winner and five other winners of six-figure futurities this season head six trial heats for the $200,000 Hialeah Derby for Quarter Horses on Sunday’s program at Hialeah Park.

The 10 fastest qualifiers will advance to the Hialeah Derby finals on Sunday, Jan. 17. It’s the richest race during Hialeah’s 40-day meet.

The classiest horse in the 400-yard trials is Careless Lightning, who will be racing outside Texas for the first time after compiling a 4-for-6 record, highlighted by wins in the Grade 2, AQHA Juvenile Challenge Championship at Lone Star Park in his most recent outing Nov. 7 and the $100,000 Sires Cup Futurity at Retama Park in June.

Other runners with good performances in rich races on their resumes include The Fiscal Cliff, whose 6-for-7 lifetime record includes wins in the $200,000 Jim Bader Futurity and $181,000 Iowa Double Gold Futurity at Prairie Meadows; Shez a Hot Valentine, winner of the $148,000 Gillespie County Futurity; Favored Fire, second in the Grade 3 Sam Houston Juvenile Challenge in May; Fast N Famous Eagle, second by a head in the $133,000 Governor’s at Indiana Grand on Nov. 24; Streakin Pr, winner of the $213,000 Valley Junction Futurity at Prairie Meadows in October; Bye Bye Freighttrain, winner of the $173,000 Oklahoma Futurity at Will Rogers Downs; Mayleen Pyc, winner of the $240,000 Harrah’s Futurity at Louisiana Downs in March; Ec Jet One, third in the Grade 3, $621,000 Sam Houston Futurity in April; and She Looks Racy, third by a head in the $448,000 Dash For Cash at Lone Star Park in September.

Sunday’s program also includes the first leg of the Hialeah distance series, the $25,000 Orange Blossom Stakes at 550 yards. The full field of 10 includes Jess Twice Cash, a former $5,000 claimer who won the Lone Star Distance Challenge in October, and Mixed Fantasy, who returns to Hialeah for the first time since going 4 for 5 during the 2012-13 meet.