Sm My Valentine survives inquiry to win first race in PCQHRA Futurity
Sm My Valentine, winless in his first five starts, scored a surprise victory in Sunday’s $250,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders Futurity at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Eduardo Nicasio, Sm My Valentine broke from the outside post in a field of 10 and won the 350-yard race by a neck over 9-10 favorite Toby Sis in a roughly run race. Elemyntal (48-1) finished third.
Sm My Valentine was timed in 17.72 seconds.
The stewards conducted a six-minute inquiry before leaving the order of finish unchanged. Sm My Valentine drifted to the inside through the final 200 yards, but was not judged to be at fault, the stewards decided.
Runners such as Fancy Upp, Mastros and The Lady Is a Vamp, who finished sixth, ninth and 10th, had troubled trips.
Sm My Valentine, a gelding by Kiss My Hocks, was second in his two starts preceding Sunday’s rich futurity – a maiden race at 300 yards on July 26 and a division of the PCQHRA Breeders Futurity time trials on Aug. 24. Despite being beaten in the time trials, Sm My Valentine had the fourth-fastest qualifying time.
Sm My Valentine races for Santos Montemayor and Omar Torres and trainer Adan Farias. The win on Sunday was worth $105,000.
On Saturday, the 3-year-old filly Hott Temptation won her third consecutive start, and the richest race of her career, in the $100,000 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap for fillies and mares at 400 yards.
Ridden by Martin Arriaga, Hott Temptation ($11.20) finished a head in front of 5-1 Aj Born Runnin, a minor stakes winner at Los Alamitos in August. Shaken Goin On (7-1) finished third in the field of 10.
Hott Temptation, who races for Gary and Micah McKinney’s Reliance Ranches and trainer Albert Valles, was timed in 19.67 seconds. With the win, Hott Temptation has earned a berth to the $700,000 Champion of Champions for 3-year-olds and older horses at 440 yards on Dec. 13.
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