A Meteoric Rise Is Expected in Million

Qualifying for the $1,313,700 Los Alamitos Million may have been more difficult for Meteoric than winning California’s richest race of 2002 will be for the Idaho-bred.

Running over a sloppy track that produced slower times after a downpour earlier in the evening, the 2-year-old gelding earned his way into the field of 10 with a facile victory in the ninth and final trial Nov. 29. Among those who didn’t qualify were All American Futurity winner AB What A Runner and Kindergarten and Ed Burke winner Morning Snow.

Owned by the Dutch Masters III partnership of Doug Benson, Denny Boer and James Streelman and trained by Lin Melton, Meteoric will be odds-on to win for the ninth time in 10 starts in the 400-yard Million.

Half of his opponents are trained by John Bassett, the American Quarter Horse Assn. champion. Bassett, who won the first running of the Million with Evening Snow in 1995, will send out The Blues Man, Lotta Bang, Xterra, Corona Caliente and First Place Queen.

The picks: 1. Memorable Edition. 2. Flying Jeb. 3. Hustle Hustle Hustle. 4. Departure Time. 5. Lotsalacy. 6. Big Mouth. 7. The Royal Music. 8. Meteoric. 9. Ashley Budd. 10. Scr Proudest Target.

Four! Use Memorable Edition, Diamond On Her Mind and Mr Chen in the first, single Flying Jeb in the second, use Hustle Hustle Hustle and the She Storms-Poza entry in the third and Departure Time, Expocito and Deal ‘Em Jack in the fourth.

Shots in the dark: Cal Bred Prince steps up in search of a repeat in the sixth after being claimed by trainer Santiago Rodriguez. Smokin Colonel Jim should improve in his second local start in the seventh.

Post time: 7:15 p.m.

On the Net: For entries and results from Los Alamitos, visit: www.latimes.com/horseracing/