© Scott Martinez
LOS ALAMITOS, CA—OCTOBER 15, 2021—Lex Fabrizio of Moonshine Racing will look to become the first owner to win the Wild West Futurity more than once when his 2-year-old filly Famous Carmilita heads the field in the $101,950 restricted Grade III final on Sunday at Los Alamitos.
Fabrizio first won this race in 2013 with the Cody Joiner-trained All Guns Firing. He’ll look to add his second with Famous Carmilita, who was outstanding when making her Los Alamitos debut in the futurity trials.
The filly by One Famous Eagle opened an early lead and then finished strongly on the way to posting the fastest qualifying time of :17.777 in the 350 yard race. Bred by Paragon Farms LLC. and purchased by Moonshine Racing for $25,000 at the Ruidoso Yearling Sale, Famous Carmilita is the 7-5 favorite coming into the final based on her impressive trial win.
The bay filly led by 1-½ lengths early on, extended her lead to two lengths at the midway point and then cruised to a length victory at the wire. She came in after running second in a trial to the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, finishing second in the 440-yard final to All American Juvenile qualifier Political Rose.
Famous Carmilita began her racing career at Weber Downs in Ogden, Utah, where she ran in the Hadley Giles Futurity consolation, before going to Ruidoso Downs where she posted a pair of nice trial efforts. Trained by Chris O’Dell, Famous Carmilita will be ridden by Eduardo Nicasio, who is tied with Jesus Rios Ayala for most wins in this race with two.
With a pair of wins to his name, Monty Arrossa is tied with Bret Vickery and Jaime Gomez for most Wild West victories. Arrossa has four top contenders in this race that could help him break the fie. He will saddle trial winner Richie Rich 1 for Lazaro Arreloa, Wyoming Futurity third place finisher Rayshas Kidd Trax for Renegade Racing and Spackman Racing, The Plan Handicap runner-up Zoomin For Trix and Jerald and Lacie Davenport’s Boondarbian, who posted the second fastest qualifying time after running in both the Utah Bred Futurity and Beehive Futurity.
The other trial winner in action is Carolyn and Ralph Fales’ Branch Rickie, who is named after influential baseball executive who made the groundbreaking decision to bring Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Branch Rickie posted a huge effort in the Wild West trials, winning the race at 37-1, which is the largest win payout of the season of $76.80.
The Wild West Futurity is for horses that have raced in the Intermountain and Northwest regions plus Arizona, Nevada and Canada. In order to be eligible to these trials, horses had to have made at least two starts in those racing jurisdictions.
The field will also feature The Plan Handicap winner Hopefulblue plus Go Out, Mister Bigg and BNB Lighting McQueen.
For more info, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.