Trippys Royal Jess out after positive drug test

The field for Saturday’s $220,400 La Primera Del Ano Derby for 3-year-old Quarter Horse fillies at Los Alamitos has changed since time trials were conducted March 11.

Trippys Royal Jess, the fastest qualifier, was not allowed to enter the La Primera Del Ano Derby after testing positive for the banned medication zilpaterol in a test conducted after the trials, trainer Christopher O’Dell and track officials said Thursday.

Trippys Royal Jess tested positive for zilpaterol in a track-sponsored hair follicle test, O’Dell said, adding that post-race blood and urine tests were clean. A second hair follicle test has been conducted, but O’Dell said he has yet to receive the results.

O’Dell said Thursday that he is unsure why Trippys Royal Jess showed the presence of zilpaterol in a hair follicle test. The medication is used as a muscle builder.

O’Dell still has a runner in the 400-yard La Primera Del Ano Derby. He starts Staggering Stride, who finished a troubled fourth in the trials.

The field has 10 fillies, but lacks a heavy favorite. Staggering Stride was 4-5 in a division of the trials, but had a poor start and was beaten three-quarters of a length by Jess Mas, who was eighth in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity last December.

Sweet Aguila won the third of three trials March 11 and has assumed the role of fastest qualifier with the absence of Trippys Royal Jess.

This will be the second appearance in a stakes final for Jess Mass, preceded by a ninth in the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders’ Futurity last October.

Smell Perfume will attract support. Third to Jess Mas in the trials, Smell Perfume was third in the Governor’s Cup Futurity for California-breds last July.