Mongoose Jet Eye Gets Out Early, Wins Vessels

Mongoose Jet Eye, an 8-1 longshot, became the first female to win the Vessels Maturity since Dashing Folly in 1997 with an impressive victory Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Owned by Maria De Jesus Angulo and trained by Concepcion Balderrama, the 4-year-old Mr Eye Opener mare broke sharply under jockey Jerry Yoakum and went on to win for the eighth time in 12 starts. The time for the 400 yards was 19.65 seconds.

Chicks Think Rich, the lesser half of the favored entry owned by Jose Santos and trained by Chuck Treece, finished second and Catchme- inyourdreams was third. Buccaneer Beach was fourth three weeks after he had posted the fastest qualifying time for the $141,000 Maturity with a 2 3/4 -length victory in 19.38.

Mongoose Jet Eye, who picked up her first Grade I victory and had won her trial by a length in 19.53, earned a bid in the $500,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 11.

Buccaneer Beach, who was claimed by Santos for $5,000 last year, already had earned his spot in the Champion of Champions with a victory in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Feb. 28.

-- Bob Mieszerski