Tequila Sangria begins second half push in Flight 109 Handicap

Tequila Sangria, the winner of two six-figure stakes for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos since September, will have her first start in more than seven months in Sunday’s $15,000 Flight 109 Handicap at 350 yards. The minor stakes is designed as a prep for the Mildred Vessels Handicap for fillies and mares on Sept. 20, a race Tequila Sangria won last year.

Tequila Sangria was 3 when she won the $125,000 Mildred Vessels Handicap last September. She added to her reputation with a win in the $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap for fillies and mares in January. A successful late summer and autumn campaign this year would put Tequila Sangria in the conversation for champion aged mare.

After the Charger Bar, Tequila Sangria was rested at owners Steve Burns’ ranch in Menifee, Calif., where she was bred via embryo transfer. Tequila Sangria returned to trainer Mike Casselman’s stable at Los Alamitos in late spring. Burns is Casselman’s brother-in-law.

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A winner of 5 of 9 starts, Tequila Sangria is part of a field in six in the Flight 109 Handicap.

“We feel like she’s doing as good as she ever has,” Casselman said on Friday. “I think she should run okay. She’ll probably need an out.”

The Flight 109 Handicap is Tequila Sangria’s first start at 350 yards since a win in the $15,000 Big Lew Handicap at Los Alamitos in July 2019. The Mildred Vessels and Charger Bar handicaps are run at 400 yards.

Last December, Tequila Sangria was last of nine at 41-1 in the Champion of Champions at 440 yards, the track’s top race for older horses.

In the Flight 109 Handicap, Tequila Sangria’s main rival is Corona Jumpin MRL, a 6-year-old Brazilian-bred horse who was second by a head in the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship in February.

Trained by Chris O’Dell, Corona Jumpin MRL was fourth in a division of the Vessels Maturity trials on June 14 at 400 yards after stumbling at the start. Last November, Corona Jumpin MRL won an allowance race at 330 yards, an indication he could be a factor in Sunday’s minor stakes.

The Flight 109 Handicap will be the second start at Los Alamitos for Badhabit Jess, who was second by a nose in the Lovington Stakes at Zia Park last December. In his Los Alamitos debut, Badhabit Jess was third in an allowance race at 350 yards on June 13 after a troubled start.