Winter Championship for older Quarter Horses re-set for Sunday

The $150,900 Los Alamitos Winter Championship for older Quarter Horses has been rescheduled for Sunday, the third time the date of the race has been rearranged because of wet conditions in Southern California.

Time trials for the Winter Championship were scheduled for Jan. 22 and postponed to Jan. 27 because of rain. The delay caused the final of the 400-yard race to be postponed from Feb. 12 to Friday - only for Friday’s card to be lost to expected extensive rain.

The race is now scheduled as Sunday’s 10th and final race, with the same field and post positions drawn from Friday. Los Alamitos announced Thursday afternoon that Friday’s races would be canceled.

The Winter Championship is the first major race of the year for older horses. The winner receives an automatic berth to the $600,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 16, the richest race for older Quarter Horses. Other berths will be available to the winners of major stakes through the year at Los Alamitos as well as stakes at The Downs at Albuquerque, Remington Park, and Ruidoso Downs.

Zoomin for Spuds, who won the Champion of Champions in December, starts from the rail in the Winter Championship. Zoomin for Spuds was beaten in his only start this year, second by a half-length to Ima Fearless Hero in a division of the Winter Championship trials Jan. 27.

Both are champions. Ima Fearless Hero was the 2015 champion 2-year-old gelding. Zoomin For Spuds was the 2016 champion 3-year-old gelding.

Their main rival Sunday is Bh Lisas Boy, the fastest qualifier from the recent time trials. Bh Lisas Boy won the California Challenge Championship last August and was later second in three major stakes, including the Los Alamitos Championship in October.

Sunday’s fourth race is the $106,750 Maiden Stakes for 3-year-olds who were maidens as of Dec. 1. All Kinds of Kind was the fastest qualifier from the Jan. 29 time trials. The well-bred Sass You Blue, another trial race winner, will attract support.