Stage Is Set For History To Unfold

OCEAN RUNAWAY, AGELESS CHAMPIONS HEADLINE $500,000 CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS

Muller Racing LLC’s Champion millionaire Ocean Runaway will make the final start of his brilliant career when he takes on the two most dominant older horses of the past three years – the ageless champion Whosleavingwho and the red-hot gray standout Catchmeinyourdreams – plus seven other great sprinters in the 34th running of the $500,000 Champion of Champions on Saturday.

The 440-yard Champion of Champions will be contested as the 8th race on the 11-race card and will feature a post time of 9:43 p.m. Ocean Runaway is the 8-5 favorite, largely in part of his monster effort in the Z. Wayne Griffin Director’s Trials. On that night, he broke the 15-year-old track record at 400 yards held by Takin On The Cash. A winner of nine of his last 10 starts at Los Alamitos, Ocean Runaway will stand stud at Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, next year.

Kim Kessinger and Jim Geiler’s Whosleavingwho, who earlier this year set a stakes record in the Go Man Go Handicap, will be going after his second victory in the Champion of Champions. He first won this race during his World Champion year in 2002.

Kirk Goodfellow’s Catchmeinyourdreams comes in having won the $300,000 MBNA America Challenge Championship and the $200,000 Los Alamitos Championship – both at the classic 440-yard distance – in his last two starts. Bred by Ed Allred, the son of Pritzi Dash ran second in the 2003 edition of the Champion of Champions. He was fourth to Cash For Kas last year.

Will the third time be the charm for Catchmeinyourdreams heading into the Champion of Champions? And how is he doing going into his third straight appearance in the Champion of Champions?

“Everything is great right now,” trainer Chris O’Dell said. “So far so good. We got post position number two. I would have liked to have further out, but nothing we can do about that. He should run okay. This is one of the most important races of his career.”

Catchmeinyourdreams will go over the $1 million mark if he finishes first or second this year. “That’s been one of our goals for him this year. He’s won most of his money running in Grade 1 races for older horses, so he’s definitely earned every penny he has made.”
More on Champion of Champions
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WILL HIGHER FIRE MAKE HISTORY?
Los Alamitos Million Futurity Set For Friday Night
Dutch Masters III’s Higher Fire is just one win away from becoming the first horse to win the Los Alamitos Bonanza, the track’s version of the Triple Crown, when she headlines the field to California’s richest race of any breed – the $1,500,000 Los Alamitos Million Futurity on Friday, December 9.

A daughter of Walk Thru Fire out of Higher Math, Higher Fire will also become the sport’s all-time leading earner with a victory in the Los Alamitos Million Futurity. Post time for the Los Alamitos Million will be approximately 10:30 p.m.

Higher Fire will earn a total of $1,577,600 if she wins the Los Alamitos Million. Her connections will earn $577,600 for winning the 400-yard race, plus the $1 million bonus for winning the three races that make up the Bonanza. Those three races are the Ed Burke Million Futurity, the Golden State Million Futurity and the Los Alamitos Million Futurity.

If Higher Fire wins the final leg of the Bonanza, her career earnings will rise to $2,545,173. Refrigerator is currently the all-time leader in earnings with $2,126,309. She’ll also become the first Quarter Horse ever to win three million dollar races in a single year.

More on the Los Alamitos Million and other Los Alamitos Races
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