‘Runaway Runs Away With It All

Ocean Runaway, the 2-1 favorite, ended his career in style with a decisive victory in the $500,000 Champion of Champions on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

The 3-year-old son of First Down Dash, who ended 2004 with a win in the Los Alamitos Million and wound up being the champion 2-year-old, won for the 10th time in 19 starts for owners Gary and Cindy Muller and trainer Denny Ekins.

The Grade 1 at 440 yards was the fourth race since Oct. 22 for the California-bred gray. Ocean Runaway ran the distance in 21.20 seconds, with Alex Bautista aboard. He had replaced Hector Cuevas, who suffered a broken back in a spill last month.

This was the first win in the prestigious race, which has produced the world champion quarter horse 22 times, for Bautista, Ekins and the Mullers.

Like Frankie And Me, one of the longshots in the Champion of Champions, finished second, edging the 3-year-old filly Apollitical Time, who had defeated Ocean Runaway in their last meeting in the Los Alamitos Derby on Nov. 12.

“Winning here tonight is what quarter horse racing is all about,” Gary Muller said.