Roman, O'Neill capture Los Angeles County Fair meet titles at Los Al

Apprentice jockey Evin Roman earned his second consecutive Los Alamitos riding title while training honors went to Doug O’Neill as the Los Angeles County Fair meet concluded Sunday.

The 12-day season was highlighted by a record fourth local stakes success for Soi Phet, a stakes double for the trainer-jockey combination of Jeff Bonde and Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux with Princess Karen in the Beverly J. Lewis and Ismelucky in the Barretts Debutante as well as a narrow score by heavily-favored Run Away in the Barretts Juvenile.

The 19-year-old Roman, who led the Summer Thoroughbred Festival in July with 13 wins, finished the LACF meet with 17 victories, five more than runner-up Brayan Pena. Roman, who made his Southern California debut Feb. 9 at Santa Anita, earned his 100th career win during the meet when he scored with first-time starter Meet and Greet for trainer Phil D’Amato Sept. 15.

O’Neill finished with six victories, one more than Bonde and Molly Pearson.  The title was the seventh O’Neill has either shared or won outright at Los Alamitos since daytime thoroughbred racing returned in July, 2014.

A 9-year-old gelding trained by Leonard Powell for the Benowitz Family Trust, Mathilde Powell and Paul Viskovich, Soi Phet won the $75,000 E.B. Johnston for a second consecutive year Sept. 9. The three-quarters of a length win added to a local resume that also includes victories in the Bertrando and Los Alamitos Mile in 2014. He’s been 1-2 in six of eight starts at Los Alamitos.

Run Away, a 2-year-old Run Away and Hide colt owned by Kaleem Shah and trained by Simon Callaghan, looked defeated approaching the stretch as the 1-5 favorite in the Barretts Juvenile, but rallied under jockey Flavien Prat to win by a head over Smokem Sept 23. It was the third stakes victory at three different tracks for Run Away. He had previously captured the Santa Anita Juvenile and the Grade II Best Pal at Del Mar.

Business figures for the Los Angeles County Fair meet will be available later this week.

Thoroughbred racing will return to Los Alamitos Thursday, Nov. 30 with the start of the 12-day Winter meet.