Record-Setting Run by Hawkish in Ed Burke

Without having to be asked for his best, Hawkish, the 3-5 favorite, moved a step closer to a $1-million bonus with a decisive victory in the $400,000 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Owned by Enrique Gonzalez’s E G High Desert Farms and trained by Concepcion Balderrama, the 2-year-old son of Dash Thru Traffic made it three victories in a row with a record-setting effort in the Grade 1 race.

With jockey Alex Bautista, who won his first Ed Burke, taking a firm hold in the final yards after the colt easily outbroke his nine rivals, Hawkish completed the 350 yards in 17.24 seconds, eclipsing the stakes record of 17.32 set by Corona Chick in 1991.

When he earned his maiden win at 7-1 in the Kindergarten on May 17, Hawkish broke an 11-year-old track record for 300 yards.

A $90,000 yearling purchase who was bred by Ed Allred, Hawkish, who was second in each of his first two starts, can earn the lucrative bonus if he wins the Los Alamitos Million on Dec. 12.

He is the third horse to win the first two legs (Kindergarten and Ed Burke) of the Los Alamitos Bonanza, joining First Sovereign, the champion 2-year-old of 1998, and Morning Snow, who did it last year.

Those horses failed to win the Million.

Summertime Fly, a 19-1 shot and one of three horses leading trainer Paul Jones ran in the Ed Burke, was second and Ocean Cartel, who raced coupled with A Very Kool Chick, finished third.