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Finneus, Thirsty Always Among Nominees For King Glorious At Los Alamitos

Finneus and Slow Down Andy, the 1-2 finishers in last month's Golden State Juvenile, and local stakes winner Thirsty Always are among the 2-year-olds nominated to the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif.

A one-mile race restricted to horses bred or sired in California, the King Glorious will be run for the 10th time Sunday, Dec. 12, the final day of the Los Angeles Winter meet.

Owned by a partnership that includes breeder Terry Lovingier and trained by Walther Solis, Finneus rallied from well off the pace to win the Golden State Juvenile by a half-length over favored Slow Down Andy.

A son of Stay Thirsty and the Ghostzapper mare My Fiona, who won the 2014 Soviet Problem Stakes at Los Alamitos, Finneus is 2-for-6 with earnings of $246,366.

Trained by Doug O'Neill, who is seeking his third win in the King Glorious after scoring with Found Money (2015) and Play Chicken (2020), for owner-breeder J.P. Reddam Racing LLC, Slow Down Andy was 11-10 in the Golden State Juvenile on the strength of an easy debut win Oct. 9. The chestnut is a son of Nyquist and the Square Eddie mare Edwina E.

Trained by Solis for a partnership that includes breeder Lovingier, Thirsty Always earned his third win in five starts by taking the Royal Owl Sept. 26 at Los Alamitos. The son of Stay Thirsty and the Not for Love mare Angela's Love has earned $147,600.

The other nominees, in alphabetical order, are Divine Feminine, Fast Draw Munnings, Fowler Blue, Love Candy, Moose Mitchell, Socal Red, So I'm Told, Straight Up G, and Youteyourhonor.

Entries for the King Glorious will be taken Thursday, Dec. 9.

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Finneus, Rosario Click In Golden State Juvenile

Given a patient, well-timed ride by jockey Joel Rosario, Lovingier, Fasihuddin and Navarro's Finneus rallied determinedly in the stretch to win the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile for California-bred 2-year-olds, the fourth and final added money-event on the undercard of Friday's Breeders' Cup Championships at Del Mar.

Placed in mid-pack in the early stages of the seven-furlong sprint, Finneus forged to the front nearing the wire to tally by a half-length over even-money favored Slow Down Andy, with Fast Draw Munnings third in the field of a dozen runners.

Finneus, trained by Walther Solis, stepped the seven furlongs in 1:23 flat and paid $10.00, $4.00, and $3.00 after his second success in six starts. He is a son of Stay Thirsty. Runner-up Slow Down Andy returned $3.00 and $2.60, while Fast Draw Munnings paid $4.80 to show.

JOEL ROSARIO (Finneus, winner) – “No special instructions [from trainer Walther Solis]. He just said hold him together and give him a good ride. My trip was good all the way. And he was game. That's the best kind of horse to ride.”

WALTHER SOLIS (Finneus, winner) “He's a special horse and every single race he's learning more and more. He's going to get to the point where he really has it figured out. This was a better race than [his runner-up finish in] the Del Mar Futurity. He was a little bit closer up today and now he's switching leads on time. The first couple races he didn't want to switch leads and that makes a lot of difference.”

FRACTIONS; :22.15 :45.11 1:10.21 1:23.00. See the full chart here.

The stakes win was the 31st at Del Mar for rider Rosario.

The stakes win was the first of the meet and the third at Del Mar for trainer Solis.

The winning owners are Terry Lovinger of Long Beach, Calif., Muhammed Naseer Fasihuddin, and Amanda Navarro.

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Thirsty Always Springs Upset In Royal Owl Stakes At Los Alamitos

Thirsty Always upset heavily-favored stablemate Rock N Rye, leading throughout in the $75,000 Royal Owl Stakes, the closing day feature of the Los Angeles County Fair meet at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif.

In his first collaboration with jockey Abel Cedillo, the 2-year-old Stay Thirsty colt out of the Not for Love mare Angela's Love, quickly established command against his four opponents and went on to win by 1 ½ lengths in 1:03.28 for the 5 ½ furlongs.

The 5-1 third choice, he paid $13.00, $3.20, and $2.40. The victory was his third in five starts and pushed his earnings to $147,600 for owners Tom Beckerle, Saul Carrillo, and breeder Terry Lovingier, and trainer Walther Solis.

Rock N Rye, also trained by Solis – as was fifth-place finisher Mr. T's Thirsty – and bred by Lovingier, finished four lengths clear of 18-1 shot Drizella as the 2-5 favorite. He returned $2.20 and $2.10 while the show price on Drizella was $3.40. Carmen Miranda checked in fourth as the 3-1 second choice.

“I was telling (Lovingier) before the race I knew (Rock N Rye) was the favorite, but the way this colt had been acting lately I knew he would give (Rock N Rye) a run for his money,'' said Solis. “When he was able to make the lead, I thought he was gone. He gets brave when he's in front.''

Cedillo said his decision on strategy was made at the start.

“He broke so sharp and (Solis) told me that if he can make the lead to go on with him,'' said Cedillo. “I did and he responded.''

The stakes win was the second of the meet for Cedillo – he had taken the E.B. Johnston via disqualification with Loud Mouth Sept. 11. He wound up the meet's leading rider, giving him his second local title. He also led the standings during the 2020 LACF Winter season.

“It's been great,'' he said. “This is not an easy place to ride because the track is so different and the long stretch, but I got to ride a lot of good horses and they made me look good.''

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Solis Prepares To Send Out Two In Best Pal, Two In Graduation At Del Mar

Trainer Walther Solis will send out two colts in each of the featured events for 2-year-olds in the next two days. Finneus and Thirsty Always are set to go in Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes and Mr. T's Thirsty and Rock N Rye in Sunday's $100,000 Graduation Stakes.

They are all California-bred sons of Stay Thirsty owned in partnerships and bred by Terry C. Lovingier.

“Stay Thirstys have really good minds,” Solis said Saturday morning at his Del Mar barn, gesturing toward Finneus who was being given a race-day veterinary check. “Even the colts, they act like older horses.”

Finneus comes into the Best Pal off a maiden victory at Santa Anita Park in June. Thirsty Always is 2-for-2 with the most recent being a stakes at Pleasanton on the Northern California fair circuit. The duo of Rock N Rye and Mr. T's Thirsty are the 8-5 favorite and 2-1 co-second choice, respectively, on Jon White's morning line for Sunday's Graduation Stakes.

Being a graded stake with a larger purse, the Best Pal would be a bigger feather in the cap of Solis, whose lone Del Mar Stakes victory to date came with My Fiona, the dam of Finneus, in the 2014 CTBA Stakes.

Solis, 59, formerly managed Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona for John and Betty Mabee, the longtime patriarch and matriarch of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and three-time Eclipse Award winners in the 1990s as the top Thoroughbred breeders in North America.

“I managed the farm for the Mabees for five years and Best Pal was before my time,” Solis said. “But when I was there we had General Challenge and a lot of other big horses. It would be nice to win a race like this. It's a hope for a small guy.”

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