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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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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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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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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The La Jolla, a Grade 3 affair that carries a purse of $150,000, has drawn a half-dozen 3-year-olds for a mile and one-sixteenth jaunt on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course at Del Mar Thorughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. The Graduation also has drawn six California-bred 2-year-old starters for its five and one-half furlong spin on the main track. It offers a purse of $100,000.

The Irish horse Cathkin Peak, owned by Sterling Stables, Nentwig, and CYBT, is a candidate to be the favorite in the La Jolla. A bay son of the Irish stallion Alhebayeb, Cathkin Peak raced once in his native land as a 2-year-old, then was purchased privately and shipped to California where he won a pair of races, including the overnight Eddie Logan at Santa Anita Park last December. He subsequently chased home the blossoming star Rock Your World in February's Pasadena Stakes, also at Santa Anita, then went on the shelf. This will be his first start in nearly six months, but trainer Phil D'Amato has put a series of steady works into him for this comeback.

Double L Stable and Natalie Baffert's Hudson Ridge hails from the powerful Bob Baffert barn and is a son of one of Baffert's Triple Crown winners, American Pharoah. The colt broke his maiden with a dead-head score in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita on May 1 and came back to win a pair of races after that, including the Cinema Stakes.

Two of the other La Jolla runners — Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal's Zoffarelli and Yuesheng Zhang's Sword Zorro also first saw light of day in Ireland. The former will be making his U.S. debut in the La Jolla, while the latter owns a victory in the Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita on grass April 25.

The Graduation – like many 2-year-old races at this time of year – is a tough one to sort out with only minimal past performances to work with. Morning line maker Jon White could barely separate two of the runners, hanging Lovingier, London, and Zondlo's Rock N Rye as an 8/5 favorite, just a tick better than Lovingier, Beckerle, and Carrillo's Thirsty Always at 9/5.

Rock N Rye is a homebred by Always Thirsty who was a handy winner of a straight maiden race in his second start at Santa Anita on May 30 in his most recent outing. He's been training steadily for this return date at both San Luis Rey Downs and Del Mar.

Thirsty Always, also by Stay Thirsty, scored in his first start at Santa Anita on May 16, then shipped up to Pleasanton and captured the Nevin Stakes there on July 10.

Trainer Walther Solis conditions both juveniles.

Here's the lineup for the La Jolla from the rail out with riders and morning line odds: Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1); Gary Barber's Wyfire (Kyle Frey, 12-1); Hudson Ridge (Abel Cedillo, 5/2); Cathkin Peak (Juan Hernandez, 2-1); Zoffarelli (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1), and Sword Zorro (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1).

The field for the Graduation lays out like this: Lovingier or Templeton Horses' Mr. T's Thirsty (Tyler Baze, 2-1); McMahon or Rudy's Trip to Spain (Frey, 2-1); Thirsty Always (apprentice Cesar Ortega); Rock N Rye (Rispoli); Moger, Burke or Estrada, et al's Northvale Road (Tiago Periera, 6-1), and Branch or Hill's Fowler Blue (Edwin Maldonado, 12-1).

First post for Sunday's card is 2 p.m.

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Breaking from the number three post position, Fi Fi Pharoah, who had pressed the pace en route to a one-length maiden score going a flat mile on May 15, found herself last in a field of eight, about 10 lengths off of dueling leaders Mucha Woman and Omg It's Jessica around the clubhouse turn.

Next to last by a similar margin and on the move with three furlongs to run, Fi Fi Pharoah wheeled four-deep turning for home as a hot early pace took its toll on the front-runners.

With Eddie's New Dream and Mario Gutierrez taking the lead at the top of the lane, Fi Fi Pharoah joined the battled with a furlong to run and prevailed in a game effort.

“Last time, it worked for her with Rispoli,” said Solis in reference to the maiden score on May 15.  “I didn't think we would get beat this time.  She just ran from the three eighths, she knows when she has to speed up.  When she got in front, she started waiting for everybody.  She's a classy filly.  I knew the filly was coming in 100 percent.  I told Terry, 'We got the filly.'”

Off as the 2-1 favorite in a field of California-bred or sired three-year-old fillies, Fi Fi Pharoah paid $6.00, $3.60 and $2.60.

Co-owned by Lovingier, Tom Beckerle and Amanda Navarro, Fi Fi Pharoah, who is out of the Ghostzapper mare My Fiona, notched her first stakes winin the Melair and improved her overall mark to 5-2-1-1.  With the winner's share of $90,000, she increased her earnings to $178,560.

“She's so lazy in the mornings, she won't give you anything until she reaches the quarter pole and takes off, so that's what I was expecting for the race,” said Rispoli.  “I knew the pace was on, so I stayed inside because she doesn't mind staying back until I find a nice gap.  I was following Mario (Gutierrez, aboard Eddie's New Dream) until I had a chance to go into the clear.”

Eddie's New Dream who finished 2 ½ lengths clear of I'm So Anna, was off at 7-2 and paid $4.00 and $2.80.

Ridden by Flavien Prat, I'm So Anna was the second choice at 5-2 and paid $2.40 while finishing 6 ¼ lengths in front of Pawnee.

Fractions on the race were 23.49, 47.47, 1:12.93 and 1:39.54.

The Melair is part of the lucrative Golden State Series.  Sponsored by the CTBA, the Golden State Series is for eligible California-bred or sired horses.

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