LOS ALAMITOS : Evening Snow Wins Track’s Richest Race

Evening Snow won the inaugural running of the $1.05-million Los Alamitos Million on Saturday night in the richest race in track history.

Evening Snow broke perfectly from the outside post position and the grey gelding crossed the wire 1 1/2 lengths in front of Temerity Wrangler. Mega Storm, part of the favored three-horse entry that included fastest qualifier Free Thinker and Take Odds, finished third. Free Thinker finished fourth, followed by Drone, Brisco County Jr, Million Dollar Down, Chickawilla, Take Odds and Sky Chicks.

Evening Snow, who was ridden by leading rider Joe Badilla Jr., posted a winning time of 19.70 seconds for the 400 yards. The gelding paid $10 to win, $6.40 to place and $3 to show. Temerity Wrangler paid $7.20 to place and $3 to show, and Mega Storm paid $2.40 to show.

Trained by John Bassett, Evening Snow previously finished fifth in the Grade I All American Futurity. The gelding is the only horse this year to qualify for the two richest races in the nation, and also finished second in the Grade I Golden State Futurity. The $412,000 winner’s check from the Los Alamitos Million raises his career earnings to $532,057 after five wins from 10 starts.