Page 59 - 20 July 2012

Vessels maturity-G1
el aGuila Real
by Tracy Gantz
When 3-year-olds turn 4 and have to take on older horses, winning races can sometimes get much tougher. In the case of El Aguila Real, though, it’s the older horses that have to worry. The 4-year-old gelding has now won both of the early Los Alamitos stakes with berths
to the Dec. 15 Champion of Champions-G1, adding the July 8 Vessels Maturity-G1 to his earlier win in the
Los Alamitos Winter Championship Stakes-G1.
“He’s pretty calm and has a nice personality,” said trainer Francisco Vallejo. “He’s quiet in the gate too.”
Eduardo Nicasio rode El Aguila Real confidently in the Vessels.
“El Aguila was moving
around a little bit in the gate,
and he didn’t break as strongly as possible,” said the rider.
Nevertheless, 6-5 favorite El Aguila Real quickly grabbed the lead, with Nicasio urging him forward. Senor Toby stayed close early, but Nicasio knew he had a lot of horse under him because he hand rode El Aguila Real down the stretch and to the wire. They had Senor Toby measured by a half-length and got the 400 yards in :19.531.
Nicasio has won the Champion of Champions the past two years with Apollitical Jess and Good Reason SA.
“He reminds me a lot of Good Reason SA,” the rider said. “They have very similar styles. He’s a very good horse. I’m thrilled to hope- fully have another opportunity to ride in the Champion of Champions.
Nicasio picked up the mount from the Mendez brothers, Santiago and Cruz, who had ridden him exclusively until the Maturity trial. Santiago’s wife, Bianca, owned El Aguila Real, but recently sold him privately to Javier Molina of Guadalajara, Mexico. Vallejo, who has 22 horses in his barn, has continued to train him.
El Aguila Real and Nicasio won their trial, defeating Senor Toby by a half-length. They qualified the second fastest, behind PK Fire. El Aguila Real had stopped Senor Toby’s seven- race winning streak when he won the Winter Championship.
“I have to admit that El Aguila Real is just too tough of a horse,” said Daniel Reynoso,
who owns Senor Toby with breeder Brad Lohr. “That horse ran away with it tonight.”
Vallejo respected Senor Toby and felt that he offered the biggest challenge in the race.
Originally from Guadalajara, 55-year-old Vallejo has been training at Los Alamitos since 2005. Prior to that he trained
racehorses on a ranch in Riverside, California.
Vallejo said he might give El Aguila Real a bit of a break now, since he has earned
his way into the prestigious Champion of Champions.
“We will talk with the owner and see what he wants to do,” the trainer said. “The most important goal, of course, is the Champion of Champions.”
Because El Aguila Real won both of the first
two races at Los Alamitos that guarantee a Champion of Champions berth, the Sept. 23 Go Man Go Handicap-G1 will now also carry a berth in the $750,000 race. The only other horse to have qualified so far is 2011 World Champion Cold Cash 123 by winning the Remington Park Championship-G1.
Enrique Gonzalez bred El Aguila Real in California. El Aguila Real finished third in the 2010 California Breeders Freshman Stakes and second in the 2011 Jens L. List Jr. Memorial
Cal-bred Stakes. He bore out when ninth
in the Sgt Pepper Feature Handicap, won
by Senor Toby, before beginning his current streak of six wins and a second in seven starts. That included a victory in the 2011 Southern California Derby-G1.
El Aguila Real is the first winner and stakes winner from four starters out of unplaced I Am All That. Special Sailing, a half-sister to I Am All That, produced stakes winner Sailing Czech and stakes-placed Sail To The Beat.
After winning the Sgt Pepper Feature, Senor Toby (Mighty Invictus-Micheles Alibi) added divisions of the John Deere Stakes and Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Stakes plus the A Ransom Handicap. Oscar Peinado has been aboard him throughout 2011 and 2012, and Jaime Gomez trains the gelding.
Gomez also trains PK Fire (Walk Thru Fire-Mystic Identity), who finished third under jockey G.R. Carter Jr. Alfonso Pasquel owns the gelding. PK Fire captured last year’s El Primero Derby-G2.
Completing the field were Flying Fig (Corona Cartel-Tender Flyer), Buying Snow (Snowbound-TB-Aquisitive), Flaming Out (Walk Thru Fire-Jetsetting Girl), Lifes Been Good (Heza Motor Scooter-Nola Darling), Reina Del Fuego (Walk Thru Fire-Reina Del Sur), Frosty Younger (Separatist-Perfect Mom), and Fire Is On (Walk Thru Fire-Micheles Alibi). Reina Del Fuego pulled up after the finish with an injury and was vanned off.
Los Alamitos $200,000 • 400 yards :19.531 • si 91
First Down Dash
Corona Czech
Corona Chick
EL AGUILA REAL, ’08, g.
Lanes Leinster
I Am All That
Wards Special Touch
El Aguila Real and Eduardo Nicasio take the $200,000 Grade 1 Vessels Maturity by half-length.
SPEEDHORSE, July 20, 2012 57
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