Flash and Roll can clinch division title

CYPRESS, Calif. – Flash and Roll arguably clinched the 2-year-old filly championship for Quarter Horses with a win in the $976,950 Golden State Million Futurity on Nov. 4. A win in Sunday’s $1,878,425 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity would summarily end the argument.

Flash and Roll was the fourth-fastest qualifier from the Nov. 25 time trials, and will be favored in the 400-yard final, her fourth race in the last 60 days. The active schedule has not taken a toll on her, trainer Justin Joiner said on Thursday.

In the trials, Flash and Roll won comfortably by 1 1/2 lengths.

“My exercise rider has requested a seat belt,” Joiner said. “She’s doing just as well now as she was going into the final of the Golden State and she’s had a race after that.

“I’m happy with how we’re sitting. I don’t know if a horse has come back as good as she did. It’s like she hadn’t run.”

Owned by West Texas resident Scott Bryant, Flash and Roll was purchased for $200,000 at the Ruidoso select yearling sale in 2017, a price that equaled the seventh-most-expensive purchase of the sale. Flash and Roll has earned $442,455.

Flash and Roll began her career in Ruidoso in the spring. She was seventh as the favorite in the Ruidoso Futurity in June after a troubled start. Flash and Roll won a division of the All American Futurity trials in August, but did not record a time fast enough to earn a berth in the Labor Day final.

Instead, Bryant and Joiner focused on the late season stakes at Los Alamitos.

In Sunday’s final, Flash and Roll will be ridden by her regular rider, 50-year-old G.R. Carter Jr. Flash and Roll has started well in her recent races, and a fast break is vital if she is to win the Los Alamitos Two Million.

Ali Babe Foose, fifth in the Golden State Million, was the fastest qualifier for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, drawing away to win by 3 1/2 lengths in 17.62 seconds.

“The horse was really good that day,” trainer Jaime Gomez said. “He broke like a bullet and some horses had trouble on the inside. He ran like a champ.”

Apollitical Pence, third in the Golden State Million, holds a strong chance for trainer Monte Arossa after winning a division of the time trials in 19.70 seconds.