LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA… The best group of fillies and mares assembled for a race this year at Los Alamitos will take center stage in the running of the Grade 1, $100,000 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap here on Saturday night.
The field is simply loaded with the likes of 2024 AQHA and PCQHRA champion aged mare Jessica Cruz heading a field that will also feature Grade 1 Charger Bar Handicap winner Rockin With Energy, Grade 1 Los Alamitos Oaks winner Shaken Goin On and Grade 1 Junos Request Stakes winner Curls Joyful Wagon among the 10 superstar distaffers participating in this 400-yard race. There are two sophomore fillies in this race in Shaken Goin and La Pacifica Handicap winner Hott Temptation. They’ll look to join Reason To Fly MV in 2021, Tequila Sangria in 2019, Blues Girl Too in 2007, and AB What A Runner in 2003 as the only 3-year-old fillies to win the Mildred Vessels since 2000.
The rest of the field features Budderhomesngarden, winner of the Grade 3 Abigail Kawananakoa Stakes, AJ Born Runnin, a multiple stakes winner here including the Florentine Stakes on August 16, Market Analyst, winner of the Rolling A Ranch Matron Stakes, the Brazilian star Miss Isao Jqm, a two-time stakes winner this season, and In The Mode, who has placed second in both the Rolling A Ranch Matron and the Abigail Kawananakoa this season. The winner of the Mildred Vessels will earn a presumptive berth to the Grade 1 Champion of Champions to be held here on December 13.
Owned and bred by Parsons Family Limited Partnership, Rockin With Energy scored a hard-fought victory in the Charger Bar at 400 yards on January 5. The Paul Jones-trainee flew out of the gate and held off a late run from the John Stinebaugh-trained duo of First Time For Wine and Curls Joyful Wagon. Rockin With Energy came back seven weeks later for the Denim N Diamond Stakes on February 27, but the result was a troubled sixth in which she bumped, lost her path and never challenged the eventual winner Nymphette. Rockin With Energy has taken her time since that outing but reemerges for the Millie after posting a solid gate work at 350 yards in a time of :18 flat. She also draws the rail, which is the same spot from where she won the Charger Bar more than eight months ago. Henry Reynoso Lopez will ride the 4-year-old mare by Parsons Rock.
Third in the Charger Bar, Martin Stacy’s homebred Curls Happy Wagon is a major contender to win this race after winning two of the biggest races for distaffers at Remington Park during the spring. A 5-year-old Oklahoma-bred sired by Pyc Paint Your Wagon, Curls Happy Wagon won the Grade 2 Decketta Stakes in March before running second in the Grade 2 Easy Date in April. The following month, Curls Joyful Wagon posted the biggest win of her career, leading from gate to wire to take the top prize in the Grade 1 Junos Request. For her career, Curls Happy Wagon has won nine of 26 career starts and a field high $466,005 in career earnings.
James Sills and Abel Flores’ Shaken Goin On is the other Grade 1 winner in the field when winning the $430,000 Los Alamitos Oaks by ¾ lengths on March 22. The Albert Valles-trainee then won the Miss Princess over older mares before a troubled start sent her to finish eighth in a trial to the Rainbow Oaks at Ruidoso Downs. Similarly to Rockin With Energy and Curls Joyful Wagon, Shaken Goin On was bred by her owners. The Oklahoma-bred filly is the daughter of Freighttrain B. Justine Klaiber will ride for trainer Albert Valles.
Gary Laramie’s Jessica Cruz was a multiple stakes winner in 2024 on the way to receiving divisional honors from AQHA and PCQHRA. The FDD Dynasty mare has struggled in her two starts this year, finishing out of the money in both the Charger Bar and the Florentine. The 5-year-old will need to improve her starts to have a chance against this outstanding field of female sprinters. Rodrigo Aceves will ride for trainer Elena Andrade.
Here’s the field is post position order: Rockin With Energy, Curls Joyful Wagon, Jessica Cruz, Miss Isao Jqm, Shaken Goin On, Market Analyst, Hott Temptation, Buddershomesngarden, AJ Born Runnin and In The Mode.
