Alamode primed for big one

A solid spring campaign may be the foundation Alamode needs to secure his second stakes win of 2020 in Friday’s $25,000 Independence Day Handicap at 300 yards at Los Alamitos.

Alamode won the minor Mr Jet Moore Handicap in March and was later second in two 350-yard allowance races in May, losing by a head and a nose. The Independence Day will be the seventh start of 2020 for Alamode, a 5-year-old gelding recently acquired privately by Genaro Martinez.

Trainer John Cooper and his wife, Carol, were the previous owners of Alamode. The gelding is still trained by the 82-year-old Cooper, who said he plans to retire at year’s end.

Alamode is part of a field of eight in the Independence Day Handicap, a field that includes Ali Babe Foose and Tac Me Up, who were second or third in major derbys and futurities at Los Alamitos in recent years.

Ali Babe Foose has won 4 of 19 starts, earned $482,739, and will have his 4-year-old debut Friday. Ali Babe Foose was second in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in December 2018. Trained by Jaime Gomez,

Ali Babe Foose was winless in nine starts last year, including a seventh in the $1,009,650 Los Alamitos Super Derby in November in his final race of the season.

The Independence Day Handicap is Ali Babe Foose’s first start at 300 yards since a win in his career debut in a maiden special weight race in May 2018.

Tac Me Up, who was second in the $168,700 Southern California Derby in December, was third in the Mr Jet Moore Handicap and the $35,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap on May 2 for trainer Chris O’Dell. Tac Me Up won two races at 300 yards in 2018 – a maiden race and a division of the Kindergarten Futurity trials prior to a sixth-place finish in the $321,800 Kindergarten at that distance.

Rite Quick is quick enough to play an important role. The 5-year-old gelding was second by a head to Alamode in the Mr Jet Moore Handicap at 350 yards after leading through the first half of the race. Rite Quick was a troubled sixth in the Kaweah Bar Handicap, stumbling at the start.

First post time for the eightrace program is 9 p.m. Eastern. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.