Carters Cartel tries to stay hot
Carters Cartel, who already has a pair of Grade I victories in a career that is not even seven months old, is the even-money favorite on the morning line to pick up another in the $1,202,700 Golden State Million tonight at Los Alamitos.
Owned by Double Bar S Ranch and trained by Jaime Gomez, the 2-year-old Corona Cartel colt is also in line for a $1-million bonus.
By virtue of his victory in the Ed Burke Million Futurity on June 23, Carters Cartel will collect the bonus if he wins the Golden State and returns to take the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity next month.
Third in his debut April 12, Carters Cartel has subsequently won six in a row, including the first of his Grade I wins in the Kindergarten Futurity on May 19. Carters Cartel is drawn in the middle of the 10-horse field and post five is just fine with Gomez. The California-bred is three for three breaking from that stall.
“Right now everyone in our camp is very positive,” Gomez said. “I love the way this colt is training and I love his post position. Everything is great right now.”
Among those trying to upset Carters Cartel are the Adan Farias-trained pair of Fighter On Fire and My Lady First. The latter was the fastest qualifier in the Golden State trials, running the 400 yards in her win in 19.50 seconds. Alex Bautista will ride My Lady First and Rodrigo Aceves will be aboard Fighter On Fire, who qualified in 19.52 seconds.
The main event on the Bank of America Challenge Championships card Saturday at Los Alamitos is the $300,000 Challenge Championship.
A Grade I at 440 yards, the Championship field includes Strawkins, the champion 3-year-old gelding of 2006 and a winner of 11 of 20 starts; Lds Dash For Dylan, who excels at the distance; and Angelas Toast, who has won 16 of 24. The winner of the race earns an automatic spot in the $1-million Champion of Champions on Dec. 15.
Other races on the program include the $200,000 Bayer Legend Derby Challenge for 3-year-olds, the $150,000 Ford Juvenile Challenge for 2-year-olds, the $100,000 John Deere Distaff Challenge for older fillies and mares, the $100,000 Red Cell Distance Challenge for older horses at 870 yards and the $75,000 Fort Dodge Claiming Challenge for older horses.
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