Longshot Cash For Kas Is Champion of Champions

Running through a thick fog at Los Alamitos, the 3-year-old filly Cash For Kas did nothing to clarify quarter horse racing’s world championship Saturday night by scoring a 22-1 upset in the $500,000 Champion of Champions.

One of two distaffers in the 10-horse field, Cash For Kas defeated Be A Bono, who was 3-1, by a nose, and it was another head back to Mongoose Jet Eye, at 19-1. The Champions of Champions starters with world-champion aspirations -- Be A Bono, Catchmeinyourdreams and SLM Snowman -- could be outvoted by the 2-year-old Ocean Runaway, winner of the $1.5-million Los Alamitos Million on Friday night.

Catchmeinyourdreams, a slight 5-2 favorite over SLM Snowman, finished fourth Saturday night.

The rest of the order of finish was Brookstone Bay, A Regal Choice, Silent Overdrive, SLM Snowman, Whosleavingwho and Buccaneer Beach.

Cash For Kas paid $44.60 for a $2 win bet. Bets of $1 were worth $88.70 for the exacta, $3,241.20 for the trifecta and $27,577.20 for the superfecta.

Cash For Kas, owned by Ed Calvert and ridden by Hector Cuevas, is a daughter of First Down Dash, winner of the stake in 1987. The first female winner since Dashing Folly in 1996 and the 11th overall, she gave trainer Paul Jones his third consecutive victory in the Champion of Champions. Jones had four horses in the race. The time for 440 yards was 21.28 seconds, slower than Dash For Cash’s stakes record of :21.17 in 1976.

Two races before the Champion of Champions, a 4 1/2 -furlong thoroughbred race was canceled because jockeys said that poor vision would make it hazardous to ride down the backstretch. The fog lifted slightly, enabling the track to run the final five races as scheduled.