A foot problem kept Hawks Dream Girl out of the Childers Ranch consignment at a Quarter Horse yearling sale at Los Alamitos last fall.
“They didn’t want to sell her in that condition,” trainer Dan Francisco recalled earlier this month.
That left Hawks Dream Girl on the Childers Ranch team, and may give the historic farm another stakes win in Saturday’s $428,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos. Hawks Dream Girl was the third-fastest qualifier for the 350-yard race, which lacks a standout in its field of 10. A filly by Hawkinson, Hawks Dream Girl has drawn the rail in a race in which all of the runners are making their first starts in a futurity final.
Hot Hitter set the fastest qualifying time of 17.41 seconds for owner Balgo Racing Team and trainer Felipe Quintero, drawing off to win her division by a half-length. Francisco also starts Tough to Tell for California breeder Mimi Wells. Tough to Tell won her division of the trials by a nose and is unbeaten in two starts.
“It’s a wide open final,” Francisco said after the trials. “From the first qualifier to the 10th qualifier, there’s not much difference. I think it will be whichever horse gets the breaks on the night of the final.”
Childers Ranch, operated by the adult children of the prominent late breeder Spencer Childers, won the 2009 Governor’s Cup Futurity with Peace Fire. Peace Fire will attempt to be the seventh horse to sweep the Governor’s Cup Futurity and Derby in Saturday’s $204,000 Governor’s Cup Derby over 400 yards.
Peace Fire finished second to First Down King in the first of two time trial divisions on July 16. The trial was Peace Fire’s first start since last November.
Pink Boots Rm, claimed for $10,000 last summer, set the fastest qualifying time of 19.37 seconds in the derby trials, her fifth consecutive win since the claim.
Saturday’s 11-race program is all an all-stakes card for statebred Quarter Horses, ranging in value from $15,000 to $428,000.
The top race for older horses is the $100,000 Spencer Childers Handicap over 400 yards. Hulapai, the winner of the 2009 Southern California Derby makes his 2010 debut, but must beat A Streakinson and Bloke, who were second and third in the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity on June 18.
The $50,000 Matron Stakes for fillies and mares over 400 yards is led by defending champion My Lady First, who is unraced since finishing fifth in the Champion of Champions against males last December.
