Start Somethin Bad ($23.60) takes first major stakes victory

Start Somethin Bad led a parade of noses across the wire in Saturday’s $220,400 La Primera Del Ano Derby for 3-year-old Quarter Horse fillies at Los Alamitos.

Start Somethin Bad ($23.60) won the first major stakes of her career, finishing a nose in front of 9-1 Tough to Figure, who was a nose in front of Staggering Stride, the 2-1 favorite in the field of 10.

Start Somethin Bad ran 400 yards in 19.82 seconds for her third win in 11 starts. The first three finishers did not have smooth starts. Start Somethin Bad broke to her inside under jockey Ramon Sanchez, while Tough to Figure and Staggering Stride broke to the outside before recovering.

Hootin for Hotlips finished fourth, beaten less than a length.

Start Somethin Bad is trained by Paul Jones for Jeff Aldstadt and Kim Pitcher. The owners help run Jones’s ranch in Temecula, Calif.

By Pappasito, Start Somethin Bad was seventh in the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association’s Breeders’ Futurity last October in her only previous stakes final. The filly was found to be ill the following day.

Start Somethin Bad has earned $125,193. She earned $92,568 for Saturday’s win.