Willis qualifies three for Golden State Million Futurity final

Apollitical Gold and HR Princess Jess, third and fifth in the $3 million All American Futurity on Sept. 7 at Ruidoso Downs, won divisions of the Golden State Million Futurity trials Sunday at Los Alamitos for trainer Eddie Willis to secure berths in the $1,104,550 final on Nov. 1.

HR Princess Jess, owned by Larry Rice, won the 10th of 12 trials, running 400 yards in 19.81 seconds for the sixth-fastest qualifying time. Apollitical Gold, owned by Grant Cox, won the eighth trial in 19.92 for the ninth-fastest qualifying time.

In the All American Futurity, Apollitical Gold finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Whistle Stop Cafe. HR Princess Jess was seventh, but was promoted to fifth after two rivals were demoted for causing interference.

Willis has three finalists in the Golden State Million after Jessa Bit of Candy finished third behind J Best Boogie and Famous Cartel Jess in the 11th trial.

Favorite Doc, purchased for $102,000 as a yearling at a sale at Los Alamitos in October 2019, set the fastest qualifying time of 19.46 by winning the second trial by 3 1/2 lengths.

Trained by Monty Arrossa for Johnny Flores, Favorite Doc was starting as a gelding for the first time in his first start since June. Arrossa trains Apollitical Patty, who set the second-fastest qualifying time of 19.60 with a win in the 12th trial. A filly, Apollitical Patty has won 4 of 5 starts.

Other qualifiers are trial race winner Consituent, who won the Governor’s Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos in July; and Counting the Ways and Aint She Tempting, who were second and third behind Apollitical Patty.

Aint She Tempting won the Oklahoma Futurity in March and was second in the Heritage Place Futurity in races at Remington Park in the spring when trained by Arrossa. Aint She Tempting had her debut for John Cooper on Sunday.

Six of the 10 finalists were the first three finishers of the 11th and 12th races.