Los Al kicks off 12-day session

Racing in Southern California moves to Los Alamitos on Thursday for a 12-day fall meet that runs from September 8 through September 25. While this might be considered by some as “down time” between the Del Mar and Santa Anita sessions, I have endured some good success here in the recent past and will hope to give out a few live ones to get the meet started in a profitable fashion.

Race 1 is a hard one to fall in love with any runner in the field, but I have an interest in GO BROTHER GO (6-1) breaking from the rail. The Jose Avalos trainee is not in very good current form nor did he fire in a lone prior try on the dirt course here, but the chestnut five-year-old has at times flashed early pace and could be the one to catch in a field void of early foot.

The son of Brother Derek broke last and showed little at Del Mar in a first for Avalos most recently, though his effort two back was positive in a near miss and Go Brother Go could run a peak race third time off the layoff. I like the morning-line price in a very winnable spot, as well as the fact that Delgadillo comes back to ride for a barn winning some races in 2016. With a clean break, the California-bred might inherit the lead and be stubborn in the stretch.

In Race 3, AWESOME ENCOUNTER (6-1) is also on the rail but I expect him to get it done in different fashion. Trained by Caesar Dominguez, the gelded sophomore has improving BRIS Speed figures and will be saving ground after being saddled with the 12 and 10 posts in his last pair of runs.

The son of Awesome Gambler ran a nice one with similar last time, experiencing a tough trip in my opinion, and he could get a fine pace scenario to run at in a field that appears to have the potential to have a contested early pace. The California-bred chestnut gets in light with Lindsay riding and Awesome Encounter is eligible to cut the corner with a serious late charge at a fair price. I’ll use him in vertical and horizontal gimmicks.

ROCKY'S RAINBOW (2-1) will be no secret in the finale as the sure favorite, but the Mike Puype pupil looks incredibly tough to close out the opening-day card in Race 8 and could be a free space for the exotics.

A gray filly by Giacomo, the three-year-old miss has run evenly in a pair of special weight tries to kick start her career, with a good enough third-place showing on this dirt course in her latest venture, and that race will almost surely take down this group barring a huge showing from the first-time starter on the rail.

The California-bred gets a clear draw outside of this field to avoid any traffic issues and six local morning moves at Los Alamitos should have Rocky’s Rainbow fit and ready to roll over this field and earn her diploma (she’ll probably be popular at the claim box, too). Puype does well with this sort of class drop and has had success with pilot Stewart Elliot recently.

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