Prissy Fein Highlights Sophomore Field : $75,000 Los Alamitos Cap Draws World Championship Candidate

The 1985 Los Alamitos Race Course yearbook has it listed as the $100,000 added Sophomore Handicap (Grade 2). However, low wagering revenues at the track caused the purse to be cut $25,000. You would think that turn of events would have resulted in tonight’s field being void of a big-name horse.

But that isn’t the case. The entry of Prissy Fein, a leading candidate for this year’s quarter horse world championship, took care of that.

Trained by Russell Harris, the 3-year-old filly has won five of her seven starts this year, earning $315,000 for owners J.T. Hooker and R.D. Hubbard.

As a 2 year old, Prissy Fein was overshadowed by a spectacular class that included Eastex and Sixy Chick. But with victories in the Rainbow Derby at Ruidoso Downs, N.M., and the Los Alamitos Derby, Prissy Fein, along with Dash’s Dream, has emerged as the year’s top horse. She set a stakes record in the Rainbow, covering the 440 yards in 21:32. She tied the stakes record in the Derby, going 21:56 over 440 yards.

The price for such success is heavy. About 127 pounds. That’s how much weight the Los Alamitos race secretary determined Prissy Fein will have to carry tonight. It’s the most a filly has ever carried in the Sophomore.

Jockey John Creager will be aboard when Prissy Fein starts from the fifth gate. Her toughest competition should come from the horse in the four hole, 3-year-old gelding Easy Austen.

Trained by Blane Schvaneveldt, Easy Austen has earned $216,507 this year by winning four of the eight races he has entered. His biggest win came in June’s Laddie Handicap. He placed third behind Prissy Fein and Sixy Chick in the Los Alamitos Derby.

Schvaneveldt, as usual, will have multiple entries in this stakes race. Dash In Style, running out of chute two, will have Danny Cardoza aboard. Taylors Short, with jockey Danny Mitchell, will start out of chute six.

Tonight’s starting order:

1--Win Apollo (Robert Bard); 2--Dash In Style (Danny Cardoza); 3--Don’t Hold Back (Todd Armstrong ); 4--Easy Austen (Kenneth Hart); 5--Prissy Fein (John Creager); 6--Taylors Short (Dan Mitchell (Dan Mitchell); 7--Ettagos Express (Steve Treasure).