 Scott
Martinez Photo/ story by Ty Wyant
Deniro Rising Star at Los Alamitos
Cypress, CA – Jan. 28, 2012 - Shane O’Leary’s Deniro surprised in
his Los Alamitos debut when he stole the spotlight with the
fastest-qualifying time to the Grade 1, $197,000 Los Alamitos Winter
Derby on Saturday night.
A recent addition to the Ugo De La Torre barn, Deniro won the fourth
and final trial with thorough domination. He broke sharply from the
outside post position under Adrian Loza and ran a faultless race to
win by one length over second-fastest qualifier Check My Thoughts.
The Desirio-sired Deniro raced the 400 yards in :19.518 while Check
My Thoughts recorded a :19.681 time. Third-fastest qualifier Eye For
Fdd also came out of the fourth trial and was credited with a
:19.806 time.
Deniro was completely overlooked at 14-1 odds after winning two of
six starts at two in the Northwest. His two wins came in
back-to-back races when he won a $3,439 futurity consolation at Sun
Downs, Washington back in May and then a $1,800 futurity trial at
Grants Pass, Oregon in June. He now may gain the favorite’s role in
the year’s first grade 1 derby.
Ed Allred’s homebred Check My Thoughts, a gelded son of Check Him
Out, earned 7-10 favoritism in the trial after winning the Golden
State Juvenile and finishing second to the highly regarded Kobe in
the Holiday Handicap.
Mary and Mary Parson’s homebred Kobe made the derby finals with a
second-place finish behind JLM Ranch’s Long Gone in the first trial.
PCQHRA Breeders’ Futurity runner-up Long Gone got the neck win in
:19.854 time while Kobe had a three-race winning streak end with his
runner-up finish in :19.885.
The qualifiers for the Winter Derby on February 18 are Deniro
(:19.518), Check My Thoughts (:19.681), Eye For FDD (:19.806), Long
Gone (:19.854), Testing The Ice (:19.875), Kobe (:19.885), BF Farm
Girl (:19.893), One Ramblin Lady (:19.914), Flame N Flash (:19.917)
and Flyin Rose (:19.936).
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