Leading Trainer Looking for First

For all of his success, Paul Jones is missing one thing from his resume.

The nation’s leading quarter horse trainer, Jones has yet to win a Kindergarten Futurity, the first Grade I of the year for 2-year-olds and a fixture on the schedule at Los Alamitos.

Jones, 38, will try to change that tonight when he sends out fastest qualifier Looking For Chicks and longshots La Jolla Ca and Sassy Corona in the $350,000 race, the first leg of the Los Alamitos Bonanza. If a horse sweeps the Kindergarten and Ed Burke Memorial Futurity this summer and the Los Alamitos Million in December, it will win a $1-million bonus.

“It would mean a lot to win the Kindergarten,” said Jones, who set a national earnings record last year. “It’s a race we’ve been trying to win for a long time and we’ve come close, finishing second, third and fourth. It would be nice to get one under my belt.”

Owned and bred by Vessels Stallion Farm LLC, which has won the Kindergarten three times, Looking For Chicks has won both of his starts. After beating maidens by a half-length on April 15, the California-bred son of Chicks Beduino won his trial for the Kindergarten by a length, covering the 300 yards in 15.35 seconds.

Cody Jensen, who is looking for his first win in the race, will ride Looking For Chicks, the 5-2 second choice on Ed Burgart’s morning line. “I thought he was our best baby going into the trials,” Jones said. “He’s quick and fast.”

Looking For Chicks will break from the inside in the field of 10, but his trainer isn’t concerned with the post. “I’m happy with the rail,” he said. “In 2-year-old races, you usually get a pretty clean trip down there.”

Both La Jolla Ca, who is 12-1, and 20-1 outsider Sassy Corona are fillies. A daughter of Streakin La Jolla, La Jolla Ca beat maidens by a head the same night Looking For Chicks debuted, then won her trial by a nose in 15.42 seconds.

Troubled when second in her debut on April 9, Sassy Corona was a half-length trial winner, also qualifying in 15.42 seconds. “All of my horses are doing well,” Jones said. “It wouldn’t surprise me no matter who won this race. It’s one of the most closely matched fields I’ve ever seen in the Kindergarten.”

The morning line favorite at 2-1 is Mr Corona Perfect, who is unbeaten in two starts for owners David and Gail Bloom.

In his trial, Mr Corona Perfect beat finalist Dash To The End, who set a track record for 220 yards in her maiden win on April 16.

The Dutch Masters III-owned entry of Jumpn and Never Fold is 3-1. Dutch Masters III, a partnership between Dr. James Streelman and Denny Boer, has won two of the last four Kindergartens with trainer Jaime Gomez, scoring with Secret Card in 2000 and Sassy Smith in 2001.

Gomez said that jockey Joe Badilla Jr. has been high on Jumpn from his first workout ride on the horse.

“I think he’s going to give the big names a run for their money in the final,” Gomez said.

The other horses entered are Separatist Jr, Quick To Jitter and Ocean Runaway, the lone maiden.