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A winner of his last three starts by a combined 11 ½ lengths, Geezer will stretch to two turns for the first time in the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes Sunday.
Named in honor of the winner of the 1988 Hollywood Futurity and 1989 Haskell, the one-mile King Glorious is restricted to 2-year-olds bred or sired in California.
Post time for the final day of the Winter Thoroughbred meet is 12:30 p.m. The King Glorious will be the last of 10 races.
A son of Merit Man and the More Than Ready mare Pat Olcott, Geezer has rattled off his victories at three different tracks – Los Alamitos, Santa Anita and Del Mar – after finishing fifth in his Aug. 27 debut.
Owned by Royalty Stable and trained by Hector Palma, who bred the gelding with Melody Conlon, Geezer has banked $89,760. He broke his maiden locally by three lengths during the September meet.
Palma will also be represented by Merit Song, another Merit Man gelding. Out of the Rockport Harbor mare Kyankes, Merit Song, who is owned and bred by BG Stables and Royalty Stable, has one win in six starts and earnings of $61,100.
Like his stablemate, Merit Song will be trying eight furlongs for the first time.
Second as the prohibitive favorite in the Golden State Juvenile Oct. 26, Giver Not a Taker will be seeking his second stakes win for owner-breeders J. Kirk and Judy Robison and trainer Peter Miller.
Successful in the I’m Smokin Sept. 9 at Del Mar, the Danzing Candy gelding out of the Kitten’s Joy mare Kittens Trip has won twice in four starts and earned $154,750.
A winner Nov. 27 in his first start vs. California breds after being defeated as the favorite in his Sept. 17 debut at Gulfstream Park, Belly Up will go long for a partnership that includes Cedros, Glen Hill Farm and Burt Bacharach, the multi-talented composer, songwriter and pianist.
Trained by Michael McCarthy, Belly Up is a son of Into Mischief and the Hard Spun mare Spun Cap. He’s banked $42,400.
Owner-breeder J. Paul Reddam will try for his fourth win in the King Glorious since the race was moved from Hollywood Park to Los Alamitos in 2014.
Reddam will be represented by last out maiden winner Please Focus, a son of Mrazek and the Stormy Atlantic mare Atlantic Swing. The victory Nov. 18 at Del Mar was at the King Glorious distance, but came on the turf. Please Focus, who is trained by Leandro Mora, has earned $55,200 in four starts.
Reddam’s King Glorious wins were with Found Money (2015), Ann Arbor Eddie (2016) and Play Chicken (2020).
Tom and Jazzy, who defeated Please Focus and six others at 22-1 when stretched to a mile and switched to turf Oct. 22, returns to dirt for Dennis Sheehy and breeder D P Racing LLC and trainer Jim Cassidy.
Unplaced in his first two races on the main track at Del Mar and Los Alamitos, the Tom’s Tribute gelding out of the Footstepsinthesand mare Jazz On the Beach has earned $38,700.
A distant third fourth behind Geezer Nov. 27, Amigo G A will make his first start outside Del Mar for Gregorio Aguilar and Hugo Garces and trainer Rolando Quinonez.
A gelded son of I’ll Have Another and the Square Eddie mare Kuva, Amigo G A has a in win three attempts and a bankroll of $44,520.
Crypto Ride will try for his second win of the Winter meet after scoring as the 8-5 favorite against $50,000 maidens Dec. 9.
Trained by Craig Lewis for owner-breeder James Shenouda, the Clubhouse Ride gelding out of the Wildcat Heir mare Wild Caroline has earned $22,460 in three starts and has hit the board in both of his races at Los Alamitos. He was third beaten Geezer in his career debut Sept. 16.
From inside out, the field for the King Glorious Stakes: Giver Not a Taker, Flavien Prat rides, 121 pounds; Geezer, Tiago Pereira, 121; Please Focus, Mario Gutierrez, 117; Belly Up, Juan Hernandez, 117; Crypto Ride, Umberto Rispoli, 117; Amigo G A, Ramon Vazquez, 117; Merit Song, Luis Contreras, 117 and Tom and Jazzy, Joe Bravo, 117.
