Page 180 - Speedhorse, December 2018

Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1
FLASH AND ROLL
by Tracy Gantz
Trainer Justin Joiner experienced an incred- ible 24 hours at Los Alamitos from Dec. 15-16. On Saturday night, he won the Champion of Champions-G1 with Bodacious Eagle. Early in the Sunday night card, he added the Los Alamitos Juvenile Invitational with Fyre Wall. Then, he took the rich $1,836,425 Los Alamitos $2 Million Futurity-G1 with Scott Bryant’s Flash And Roll.
In the $2 Million Futurity finals, Flash And Roll bulleted out of the 4-post so quickly that she caught her rivals by surprise. No one ever came close to catching her, and she scored the wire-to-wire victory by 1 1/2-lengths in :19.543, posting a 98 speed index.
“This has been a wonderful place,” said Joiner of Los Alamitos. “I know we’ve been lucky, but it’s been a great experience.”
Joiner is part of a family of excellent train- ers. His father, Mike, and brother, Cody, have also won stakes at Los Alamitos.
They work as a team, with Justin, who most recently has traveled to California.
The family headquarters is located near Sunland Park in New Mexico.
Flash And Roll has been perfect at Los Alamitos. She won her trial to the Golden State Million Futurity-G1 and then won the $942,750 finals wire-to-wire by 1/2-length.
Then, Flash And Roll
won her Nov. 25 trial to the
Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1 - again wire-to-wire by 1 1/2-lengths. She entered the finals as the fifth fastest qualifier.
Veteran jockey G.R. Carter Jr. has
been aboard her in every start, both at Los Alamitos and at Ruidoso Downs, where she also won her trial and qualified to the Ruidoso Futurity-G1. She suffered her only loss in these finals. She also won her Aug. 18 All American Futurity-G1 trial, but not quickly enough to qualify.
As the excited connec- tions gathered in the winner’s circle after the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity victory, all eyes were on G. R. Sure enough, he did his famous backflip off of the filly.
Carter said later that it might be the last one of his career, as he planned to retire at the end of the year.
“She’s one of the fastest horses I’ve ridden,” said the jockey. “There were
a lot of nice horses in this race tonight, but she just spanked them the first two jumps and ran away from them. There’s nothing like that feel- ing when you are running away from the field of those kind of horses knowing that you have the race won before you go past the gap.”
“It went from a very nice headwind to a really large tailwind,” explained Bryant.
Weather is rarely a factor in California, and Flash And Roll has thrived there.
Los Alamitos $1,836,425 • 400 yards :19.543 • si 98
First To Flash
First Moonflash
Nagano Moon
FLASH AND ROLL, ‘16-f.
Feature Mr Jess
Stylish Jess BR
Stylish Secret
178 SPEEDHORSE, December 2018
Flash And Roll and G.R. Carter Jr. go wire-to-wire winning the $1,836,425 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1
RACING NEWS
Scott Martinez