LITTLE BIT OF BAJA RACES FOR CoC RETURN

November 19, 2009 – Little Bit Of Baja, second in the previous two Champion Of Champions (G1) runnings, races for an opportunity to return to the Champion Of Champions in the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Stakes Friday night at Los Alamitos.

The 400-yard Directors Stakes fills the remaining three berths in the $750,000 Champion Of Champions (G1) on December 12 at Los Alamitos, based on the fastest times. Any additional spots in the Champion Of Champions that may open due to defections will be filled from Friday’s race.

The Vessels Stallion Farm and Los Bustardos-owned Little Bit Of Baja (First Down Dash-BCR Pale Moon by Kingdom Key) has run some of his best races in the Champion of Champions, but has yet to win American Quarter Horse racing’s premier event for older horses. In each of those defeats it took a Los Alamitos 440-yard track record to defeat the gelding.

In 2007, world champion Blues Girl Too dominated the Champion Of Champions with her 1 1/4-length win over Little Bit Of Baja in :21.132.

Last year, Little Bit Of Baja stepped up to push champion Jess You And I to the first sub-:21.00 440 yards in Los Alamitos history. Jess You And I defeated Little Bit Of Baja by a head in :20.944.

Little Bit Of Baja is in sharp form for trainer Adan Farias. He comes off a very close second-place finish in the $350,000 Bank Of America Challenge Championship (G1). He was second by a nose behind Fighter On Fire’s :21.124 time for the 440 yards.

Benny Rossett’s Stylish Jess BR (Feature Mr Jess-Stylish Secret by Dash For Cash) returns to racing against the boys after winning two important stakes against female competition. She won the Merial California Distaff Challenge (G3) by a length and then took the Merial Distaff Challenge Championship (G1) by 1 1/4 lengths. Each of those wins came at the Directors trial distance of 400 yards.

The Paul Jones-trained mare has made Grade 1 starts this year against male rivals in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship and the Vessels Maturity. She finished fifth in the Winter Championship and sixth in the Vessels Maturity.

Jones will also send out Masters Call (Hennessy (TB)-Check Her Twice by First Down Dash) for his ownership, a syndicate headed by Ed Allred and R.D. Hubbard. The superbly-bred colt has always been highly regarded, but has yet to garner a graded stakes win. The 4-year-old stallion prospect won the Los Alamitos Two Million Juvenile at age 2 and comes off a promising daylight win in the $25,000 Farnam Stakes, an undercard stakes on Bank of America Challenge Championship night at Los Al.

The surprising Hawk In The City (Hawkinson-City Image by Special Effort) has come through for owner-trainer Jose Flores this year at high odds. He has seconds in the Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship (G1) at 47-1 and the Go Man Go Invitational at 19-1 odds. In his most recent start, he was third in the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Championship at 19-1 odds.