Page 163 - Speedhorse April 2021

“I think she’s better—she’s continued to improve,” said Arrossa, who quickly credited his entire team, both at Los Alamitos and in Idaho. “Jessie Castillo is my assistant, and he gallops here. He’s done a great job getting her mind right at the track. Her groom, Alvaro Diaz, has spent so much time with her, getting her calm and quiet. My guys in Idaho, they broke her and did a fantastic job. Romero Fregoso runs my opera- tion in Idaho. When he sent her down here to me last year, he said, ‘She’s fast; she can run.’ We don’t get high on our two year olds, but when he told me that she was nice, that was a good sign.” Apollitical Patty went undefeated in her first three starts and then ran second in the Los Alamitos Juvenile Challenge. She aced her trial for the Golden State Million Futurity-G1, but then she ran sixth in the final.
“She had a little bit of kidney infection,” said Arrossa. “When she didn’t perform as well, we ran some blood on her and found she had
a kidney infection. Once we got that clear, she pretty much has been a monster.”
Cervantes, who has ridden Apollitical Patty in all of her starts, said that she has had a few issues with the starting gate. He has been cor- recting her and getting her to improve, which has also paid off.
“I was a little scared, but she went in there and boom, we left,” the jockey said. “She left running. She went a little bit in, but I corrected her and hand-rode her. That was it.”
Arrossa said that after giving Apollitical Patty a little break following the Los Al $2 Million
Futurity, she matured and the Los Alamitos gate crew spent extra time with her, which also helped.
“She’s just progressively gotten sharper and sharper,” said Arrossa. “I was proud of her in the trials. She false broke, but she handled that phenomenally. We’ve had her back to the gate twice since the trials, and both times she was very professional.”
Apollitical Patty has the pedigree to be
a talented racehorse. She is a half-sister to Zoomin For Spuds, a horse well-known at Los Alamitos. Zoomin For Spuds won the 2016 Champion of Champions-G1 at the track for Jim Walker, his owner/breeder. Walker also bred Apollitical Patty, both in Idaho. Walker died in January 2020.
Apollitical Patty raced throughout 2020 for the Walker Family Trust, and Holt acquired her from the family prior to the filly’s 2021 debut.
A Perfect Cocktail, the dam of Apollitical Patty, has produced six winners in seven start- ers, including additional stakes winners Bux For Cocktail and Jesses Perfect One and stakes- placed Doing Trix.
Jose Nicasio rode Aint She Tempting (Tempting Dash-Preslee The First) to second for Holt and Arrossa. Aint She Tempting won last year’s Oklahoma Futurity-G2 and placed in the 2020 Heritage Place Futurity-G1 and Golden State Million Futurity-G1.
The Parsons Farmily Limited Partnership’s homebred Terrific Temper (Tempting Dash- Terrific Energy) finished third. Eduardo Nicasio piloted her for trainer Christopher
O’Dell. Terrific Temper ran second in the 2020 Ed Burke Million Futurity-G1.
Completing the field were Leah Carroll (Hes Relentless-Viva La Blue), Diva On Fire (Walk Thru Fire-Jess Sass Me), Comaneci (Favorite Cartel-Chalala Jess), La Estrella Corona (Corona Czech-Shadow Lake TB), Up For You (Favorite Cartel-Up For It), Expedited (Favorite Cartel-Katie Katella) and In My Heart (Apollitical Jess-Heartbeat).
Apollitical Patty returns after her victory
RACING NEWS
Trainer Monty Arrossa and jockey Armando Cervantes accept the trophy for the Los Alamitos Oaks-G3
SPEEDHORSE April 2021 161
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