STARTER SHOWDOWN PICK 5

 



  The inaugural Starter Showdown Series will make up the Players’ Pick 5 Friday, Sept. 25, the final day of the Fall meet at Los Alamitos.

The races – which offer total purses of $175,000 – range in distance from 5 ½ furlongs to one mile and feature horses eligible for $8,000, $16,000 and $25,000 starter allowance contests.

The richest event in the Series – which was the creation of racing secretary Bob Moreno - is the $45,000 Seal Beach Stakes. The six-furlong race, which is the third of nine Friday, attracted Fall meet winners Basmati and Jonny’s Choice.

Owned by Harry Bederian, Harout Kamberian and Hagop Nakkashian and trained by Richard Baltas (left), Basmati won by 3 ¼ lengths Sept. 17, his first start after being claimed for $20,000 out of  a victory Aug. 21 at Del Mar.

A 6-year-old Borrego gelding out of the Mountain Cat mare Abruzzi Ridge, Basmati has won six of 33 and banked $506,956.

Trained by Mark Glatt for owners Dan Agnew, William Branch and John Xitco, Johnny’s Choice returned from a two-month layoff to score by 3 ½ lengths Sept. 11.

The win was the fourth in 21 races for the 6-year-old Unusual Heat gelding out of the Boundary mare Knows No Bounds and pushed his earnings to $141,176.

The remainder of the field includes Sacred Ovation, who is 2-for-2 at Los Alamitos with both victories occurring in 2014, W. Giles, also a local winner last year, and I Buy Gold, who finished second behind Basmati last week.

From inside out, the field for the Seal Beach Stakes: Basmati, Tiago Pereira rides, 124 pounds; I Buy Gold, Cassidy Clerisse, 114; Sacred Ovation, Edwin Maldonado, 124; Jonny’s Choice, Fernando Perez, 124 and W. Giles, Kerwin John, 124.

The other Starter Showdown races and their order in the Players’ Pick 5 are the one-mile, $35,000 Long Beach Stakes ( Race 1); the 5 ½ furlong, $30,000 Buena Park Stakes (Race 2); the 5 ½ furlong, $30,000 Westminster (Race 4) and the one mile, $35,000 Rossmoor (Race 5).

Both the Buena Park and Westminster attracted nine entrants while six are scheduled to go in the Rossmoor and Long Beach.

Post time Friday is 2 p.m.