Los Alamitos: Giver Not a Taker avoids upset in King Glorious
Heavily favored Giver Not a Taker (3-5) rallied along the rail in the stretch to get up in the final strides to defeat long shot Crypto Ride (47-1) by a head in the $101,500 King Glorious Stakes on Sunday, the final day of the December meet at Los Alamitos.
Ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat, the 2-year-old homebred for owners Kirk and Judy Robison earned his third win in five starts in his first venture beyond seven furlongs, completing the mile in 1:38.16 in a race restricted to juveniles bred or sired in California.
The race was marred early on the backside when Please Focus (17-1), who was on the lead, ducked out and unseated jockey Mario Gutierrez. A homebred for owner Paul Reddam, the gelded son of Mrazek ran loose afterward but was uninjured. Gutierrez also escaped unscathed and walked back to the jockeys room.
Click here for Los Alamitos Thoroughbred results.
A Danzing Candy gelding out of the Kitten’s Joy mare Kittens Trip trained by Peter Miller, Giver Not a Taker increased his bankroll to $214,750. He paid $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10.
“I wasn’t really bothered right then (when Please Focus unseated Gutierrez), but on the last turn I wanted to go on and ask him to run, but the jockey (Tiago Pereira) on the horse (Geezer) in front of me was worried about the loose horse, and he didn’t know where he was going to go,’’ said Prat after his second stakes win of the meet. He also took the Starlet (G1) on Dec. 10 with Faiza. “(Crypto Ride) got the jump on us, but my horse got brave and regrouped and made a good run down the lane.’’
Crypto Ride, who had defeated $50,000 maidens going six furlongs in his Los Alamitos debut Dec. 9, opened a 1 1/2-length lead with one-eighth of a mile to run but couldn’t quite last for the upset. He returned $17 and $6 finishing five lengths clear of second choice Geezer (7-2), who had a three-race win streak ended. The show price on Geezer was $2.60.
Merit Song (93-1), Amigo G A (29-1), Tom and Jazzy (13-1), Belly Up (4-1) and Please Focus (17-1) completed the order of finish.