Heza Secret Diamond Wins

Heza Secret Diamond, the lesser-regarded half of the favored entry, prevailed over stablemate Lindas Dasher, 17-1 shot Flyn Gt and eight others in the $418,000 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Owned by Christian and Ru Anna Singletary and trained by Scott Willoughby, Heza Secret Diamond, a 2-year-old gelded son of First Down Express, earned his second win in five starts. He was disqualified out of another victory June 4.

Bred in California by Ed Allred, Heza Secret Diamond, who returned $3.80, gave jockey Cody Jensen his first victory in the Burke, a Grade I, while completing the 350 yards in 17.54, well off the stakes record of 17.24 set by Hawkish a year ago.

Lindas Dasher, the fastest qualifier in the trials July 17, overcame a slow start to finish in a dead heat for second with Flyn GT, who was in front for most of the 350 yards before fading a bit late. Mimi Cartel finished fourth.

“I’m so proud right now of both horses,” Christian Singletary said. “We wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for Scott. We have to give him a huge amount of credit.”

-- Bob Mieszerski