Tarzanito gets breakthrough win in Go Man Go Handicap

Tarzanito won the first major stakes of his career in Sunday’s $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap for older Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos, beating the champions Hold Air Hostage and Zoomin For Spuds.

Ridden by 54-year-old Eddie Garcia, the track’s all-time leading jockey in stakes wins, Tarzanito ($24) finished a neck in front of 43-1 Royaltys Authority, who was a neck in front of Hold Air Hostage, the 9-10 favorite.

Garcia has won 151 stakes at Los Alamitos.

Tarzanito overcame a bump at the start to take the lead in the final strides, finishing 400 yards in 19.61 seconds.

Hold Air Hostage, the overall champion 3-year-old and 3-year-old gelding in 2017, led the Go Man Go field by a half-length after the first 100 yards, but could not sustain the advantage.

Zoomin for Spuds, the champion 3-year-old gelding of 2016, finished fourth by 1 1/4 lengths after a poor start. The Go Man Go Handicap was Zoomin for Spuds’s first race since a win in the Vessels Maturity on July 8.

Tarzanito was third in the Vessels Maturity and later third in the Spencer Childers Handicap at Los Alamitos on July 28.

Owned by A1A Racing and trained by Yanet Rodriguez, Tarzanito, a 4-year-old colt by Favorite Cartel, has won 8 of 16 starts and earned $347,183. Earlier in his career, Tarzanito was second in the 2016 Golden State Million and fifth in the Los Alamitos Super Derby last November before the narrow loss in the Vessels Maturity.

The win in the Go Man Go Handicap may provide Tarzanito with a berth in the $600,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 15. The winner of the Go Man Go Handicap is the first alternate for the Champion of Champions and will receive a berth if the winner of one of eight major stakes run from February to early November declines a berth, or if a horse wins more than one race with an automatic berth.