Strong Field Set for Truly A Pleasure ‘Cap Tonight

The Truly A Pleasure Handicap isn’t one of the bigger races at Los Alamitos Race Course each season.

That race, scheduled for tonight over a distance of 870 yards, could be the sleeper race of the year because it features one of its strongest fields of 3-year-olds.

Trainer Jaime Gomez has two of his best distance horses in the field, including Maybeintyme, which is the slight favorite and is looking to win her fourth race in five starts. He’s also conditioning Comus, a Grade I stakes winner who finished second to Maybeintyme by half a length in the May 17 James S. Smith Handicap. Maybeintyme set a course record of 44.64 seconds in that event.

Not to be counted out, champion trainer Blane Schvaneveldt has entered Sign It Super, 1996 champion distance horse. The gelding by Sign John Doe earned $69,322 last season and has won three consecutive starts at 870 yards. Sign It Super also won eight of 12 races in 1996.

XX It For Bux also is expected to run, as are Almars Secret, Dash For Reb, Fappiano’s Order, Miss Bloombury, Proud Beduino, Score More, Singular Vision, Stellar Trux, Studley Luke, Traveling Legacy and Wanna Be Wicked.

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Champion horse Dashing Folly and trainer Donna McArthur will have to wait another week to make up for a sloppy outing in the trials of the $150,000 Vessels Maturity.

The Grade I Vessels final is scheduled Friday.

Dashing Folly, making her first start of the year, entered the June 13 trials having won 10 races in a row. But she stumbled out of the gate and finished the 400-yard first heat in second behind Watch The Pie.

As it turned out, the times turned in by Watch The Pie (19.77 second), Dashing Folly (19.80) and third-place finisher Ah Sigh (19.82) were the three best times of the evening. Air Beduino, saddled by trainer Connie Hall, won the second trial, but not before he bumped Fearless Freda twice shortly after leaving the starting gate. The result was a lackluster 19.83 finish. Fearless Freda also qualified but ran the slowest time (20.03) of any horse scheduled to run in the finals.

“We hit Fearless Freda pretty good and I feel bad about that,” said Air Beduino jockey Eddie Garcia, a four-time winner on the evening. “I also feel Air Beduino would have won that race no matter what.”

McArthur said her horse just ran up against “terrible racing luck.” She pointed out that her 4-year-old was distracted in the starting gate by Chickawilla, who bucked wildly in the position next to Dashing Folly.

“It’s disappointing to lose a winning streak such as the one she’d put together,” McArthur said. “But now that she has a race under her belt I expect her to be really good in the final.”

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Also scheduled Friday is the Grade I, 350-yard, $150,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity for 2-year-olds.

Mrstrawflytoyou, with veteran jockey Joe Badilla aboard, and Corona Cash share the top qualifying time at 17.54 seconds. A total of seven heats were run, with the 10 best times advancing to the finals.

Earlier this season, Mrstrawflytoyou turned in a 15.48 over 300 yards, best on the track so far this meet.

Badilla is the leading jockey at the track.

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Jockey Dennis Means, 20, the second-leading rider at Arizona’s Rillito Park last season, is doing well this year at Los Alamitos.

Means has taken several longshots to victories for the stable of Edward C. Allred and trainer Bruce Hawkinson in recent weeks.

A year ago he couldn’t get a decent ride at the track, but lately, he has been hot. His last five wins have had an average payout of $35.68.

“Last season I was riding horses that had no chance even finishing in the money,” he said. “This year I’m at least getting a chance to ride competitive horses.”

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Trainer Curtis Olijar was not bashful in assessing the potential of 2-year-old Willie Wanta Dash.

“Willie is a really green and immature colt and right now he is winning on talent alone,” Olijar said. “I think he showed only 60% of his ability and if he ever puts it together he has enough ability to be the fastest two-year old in the country.”

Willie Wanta Dash won his heat of the Governor’s Cup Futurity.

Notes

Henry Garcia rode Girl Secret to the most impressive Futurity Trials win, a length and a half victory over Holland Boogie. . . . Corona Cartel, winner of the 1996 Los Alamitos Million, still has not completely recovered from knee surgery and will skip the trials of the Golden State Derby scheduled July 11, according to trainer Jaime Gomez. . . . Jockey Eddie Garcia will have to choose between Watch The Pie or Air Beduino in the Vessels finals. He was aboard both in their trial victories.