ANSWER THE DREAM Second Fastest In $208,200 Los Alamitos Winter Derby-G1 Trials
LOS ALAMITOS, CA - FEBRUARY 2, 2008 - Answer The Dream, a daughter of 2007 leading second year sire TRES SEIS, kicked off the 2008 California Derby season Friday night with an outstanding win in the trials to the $208,200 Los Alamitos Winter Derby to be held on February 22.
The first major event of the lucrative derby season at the Southern California track will feature some familiar names from last year's strong freshman class. Four runners that qualified to the 2007 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity returned to qualify to the Winter Derby.
Answer The Dream responded well to the challenge of facing Governor's Cup Futurity(G1) winner Magic Show Czech and Golden State Million Futurity(G1) runner-up Fighter On Fire, as she defeated the latter by a head with the former finishing third. Answer The Dream also prevented trainer Adan Farias from sweeping in the trials with her victory over Fighter On Fire.
"It's fun to play the spoiler role," said Kelly, who operates the EIRE Stock Farms in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. "I liked our chances to do well tonight. You can't come out of Oklahoma with an empty wagon and expect to compete at Los Alamitos. We knew that Answer The Dream could go 400 yards. She's answered every question that we've asked from her since arriving here. She has speed and the good finishing ability. Fighter On Fire is an outstanding horse, so to beat him is a nice feather in her cap.
"We had her at Remington Park and at Blue Ribbon Downs but she was unlucky," Kelly added. "We knew she had talented but that she needed more time. We decided to give her some time off before sending her here to (trainer) Paul Jones. Paul has done an outstanding job with her, just like he's done with everything else that we've sent him."
Kelly noted that he sold Answer The Dreams' mother, Three Dee Dreams, in November. Kelly also said sold is a current 2-year-old out of Three Dee Dreams at the Heritage Place Sale. Answer The Dream's trial was the most productive of the night as half of the field for the derby final came out of this race.
The complete list of finalist are as follows: My Lady First (:19.53), Answer The Dream(:19.69), A Mere Chocolate (:19.71), Fighter On Fire (:19.72), Tsunami Splash (:19.81), Magic Show Czech (:19.82), Checkinuout (:19.92), Spanish Cartel (:19.97), Wicked Royal Cartel (:20.00), El Galun (:20.01).
