Regardless of the outcome of Sunday evening’s $1.78 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, Trane Station V is not expected to be the champion Quarter Horse 2-year-old of 2023. The title will likely go to Dark NME, the filly who won seven-figure futurities at Remington Park in June, Ruidoso Downs in July, and Lone Star Park last month. Trane Station V can clinch the title of champion 2-year-old colt with a win in the 400-yard Los Alamitos Two Million. Quarter Horse racing has championships for outstanding 2-year-old colt, filly, gelding, and an overall title. Trane Station V has been at the fore of the division through the year. Owned by Sammy Valeriano and trained in California by Heath Taylor, Trane Station V won the $961,405 Golden State Million Futurity at 400 yards on Oct. 29 for his first stakes win. Earlier this year, Trane Station V was second by 3 1/2 lengths to Dark NME in the $1 million Rainbow Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in July, and second to the gelding Cowboys Gun Z in the $3 million All American Futurity. Dark NME was third in the All American as the heavy favorite. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Trane Station V was sent to Taylor in California this fall. After winning the Golden State Million, Trane Station V delivered a near-perfect performance to win a 400-yard time trial for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Nov. 19. Trane Station V won by 2 1/2 lengths at 1-20, setting the fastest qualifying time of 19.76 seconds from 14 trials. In Sunday’s final, Trane Station V will break from post 7 in a field of nine and be ridden by his regular rider, Francisco Calderon. Trane Station V will be heavily favored to win for the sixth time in his ninth start. A colt by Favorite Cartel, Trane Station V has earned $1,015,509 this season. The other qualifiers in Sunday’s race have earned a combined $585,973. If there is a threat to Trane Station V, it may come from the geldings Five Bar Supreme and AB Wow, who drew the inside post positions. Five Bar Supreme, who won the minor Wild West Futurity at Los Alamitos on Oct. 22, had the second-fastest qualifying time of 19.78 seconds. AB Wow was third in the Golden State Million Futurity and won a division of the Two Million Futurity trials in 19.95 seconds. The only missing qualifier is AB Seis Corazones, who won a division of the trials to set the third-fastest qualifying time, but emerged from the race with an injury, trainer Monty Arrossa wrote in a text message on Friday. Arrossa said AB Seis Corazones will resume training in early 2024. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.