Tequila Sangria, As and Js rematched in Charger Bar

Tequila Sangria and As and Js were separated by a nose when they were first and second in the $125,000 Mildred Vessels Handicap for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos in September, but were overmatched against males in the $600,000 Champion of Champions last month.

They meet for the third time in Sunday’s $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap for Quarter Horse fillies and mares at Los Alamitos. The Charger Bar and the Mildred Vessels are the two six-figure races for older females at Los Alamitos each year.

As and Js, trained by Monty Arrossa for Leonard Alcala, was fifth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by He Looks Hot in the Champion of Champions at 440 yards.

A 6-year-old mare, As and Js is winless in four starts since winning the Junos Request Stakes for fillies and mares at Remington Park in June, but two of those losses were by a nose – the Mildred Vessels and a division of the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors’ trials for the Champion of Champions at 400 yards in November.

Tequila Sangria broke poorly in the Champion of Champions and did not recover, finishing ninth, 3 3/4 lengths behind He Looks Hot. Earlier in the fall, Tequila Sangria, now 4, was fifth in a division of the Los Alamitos Super Derby.

Trained by Mike Casselman for owner and breeder Steve Burns, Tequila Sangria has won 4 of 8 starts and breaks from the outside in a field of 10 in the Charger Bar.

The field includes Thermonuclear Energy, who was second in the 2018 Charger Bar and won the race last year. Thermonuclear Energy was sixth in the Mildred Vessels Handicap as the 6-5 favorite in September and seventh after a troubled start in the $50,000 Las Damas Handicap for fillies and mares on Nov. 23.

Tough to Figure, who won the Las Damas, is another of the contenders in the Charger Bar Handicap.