Page 154 - SpeedhorseMarch2021

RACING NEWS
Brad McKinzie Winter Championship-G1
POWERFUL FAVORITE
Los Alamitos
$157,750 • 400 yards :19.498 • si 99
FAVORITE CARTEL
si 104
Bred by: Paul Jones/Thompson Racing Inc.
Raced to 4 • $607,669 25-9(3)-2-4(2)
1,071 f., 71 SW • $23,483,877
FAVORITE TRICK TB
Bred by: Mr. & Mrs. M. L. Wood Raced to 3 • $1,726,793 16-12(11)-0-1(1)
634 f., 26 SW • $22,158,001
Bred by: James Markum & Steve Burns
Raced to 5 $960,877 24-14(6)-5(1)-2(2)
SHENOSHERCORONA si 91 Bred by: Henry E. Brown Raced to 4 • $16,318 15-1-3-2
28 f., 1 SW • $1,133,919
REMEMBER ME ROSE
si 110
Bred by: MLA International Company Raced to 4 • $820,895 18-9(5)-4(3)-1
29 f., 3 SW • $2,697,790
CORONA CARTEL si 97
Bred by: Robert D. Etchandy Raced to 3 • $557,142 14-6(3)-3-0
1,978 f., 1833 SW • $64,492,649
IM MOONLIGHTING si 106 Bred by: Constance C. Miller Raced to 3 • $41,794 14-6-1-1
16 f., 2 SW • $1,159,069
by Tracy Gantz
Powerful Favorite has begun 2021 by improving on his 2020 record, which was already extremely good. Third in the
2020 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship-G1, the 5-year-old gelding won the race this time around. It earned
him another berth in the Champion of Champions-G1, and if the McKinzie is any indication, he will improve on his third place finish last year as well.
For the past three seasons, Powerful Favorite has won a Grade 1 race: the 2019 Los Alamitos Winter Derby-G1, 2020 Go Man Go Handicap-G1, and the 2021 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship-G1.
He became only the third horse to sweep the Winter Derby and Winter Championship, fol- lowing Whosleavingwho and A Stoli Mate.
Eduardo Nicasio regularly rides Powerful Favorite, and he was aboard for both the trial and the final. Powerful Favorite won his trial by three-quarters of a length as the fourth- fastest qualifier and went off as the 1-2 favorite in the final.
Breaking well from post position four, Powerful Favorite had a clean trip, going right to the front. He again scored by 3/4-length, stopping the timer in :19.498.
“This race means a lot,” said Christopher O’Dell, who trains Powerful Favorite for Rosenthal Ranch LLC. “It gets us back in the Champion of Champions, and it puts us close
to the $1 million mark. That was a goal for us. Every time he runs down through there and takes a picture, that’s another notch for him. It’s cool
when you get one like him because they are hard to come by.”
Powerful Favorite is a special horse to owner Connie Rosenthal because he was the last horse her husband, Bob, selected before his passing in 2018.
“He picked him out at the (Los Alamitos) Equine Sale, so it’s his horse,” said Connie of her late husband. “That’s also so special. We are just along for the ride.”
At the 2017 Los Alamitos Equine Sale, Bob wanted to buy Powerful Favorite, but he felt the
yearling would cost too much. So Connie bought him for $90,000. The Winter Championship raised Powerful Favorite’s lifetime earnings to $960,877.
Powerful Favorite became a Graded stakes winner at age two, winning the 2018 Governor’s Cup Futurity-G2. He has made every one of his 24 starts at Los Alamitos.
“I hope we can keep him around for a couple of more years if we just space out his races,” stated O’Dell. “We don’t have to run him very much.
152 SPEEDHORSE March 2021
Powerful Favorite winning the $157,750 Brad McKinzie Winter Championship under Eduardo Nicasio.
Los Alamitos
POWERFUL FAVORITE, ‘16-g.