CYPRESS, Calif. - More than $560,000 in purses from two major Quarter Horse stakes at Los Alamitos last fall were ordered redistributed by track stewards on Saturday after a runner in each race tested positive for a prohibited medication. American Dreamin, winner of the $1.04 million Golden State Million Futurity on Oct. 27, and Ab Seis Corazones, second in the $763,000 Los Alamitos Super Derby on Nov. 10, tested positive for carmoterol, a bronchodilator not permitted to appear in post-race test. Both runners are trained by Monty Arrossa, who faces a potential sanction for the infractions. American Dreamin and Ab Seis Corazones were disqualified from prize earnings. American Dreamin’s first-place purse of $439,656 was ordered forfeited and redistributed to the original second- through ninth-place finishers – Lethal Cowboy 123, Cartel Perry, Favorite Jesshawk, Blood Viper, Ultimate Battle, Apolitical Chilitas, Big Bang Rocket, Competent and Snow Bound. Lethal Cowboy 123 later won the $1.8 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 15. Ab Seis Corazones earned $129,710 for finishing second in the Super Derby, which was ordered forfeited. The original third- through eighth-place finishers were promoted one position in the final placings, according to Saturday’s ruling. Those horses were Lets Leave, Dark Nme, Rs Shere Khan, Boardwalk, Sonny Corona, Try Harder and Stanley Cartel. The purses of those races had yet to be paid by track management, and were ordered distributed by April 22 pending appeal, according to the two rulings published by stewards James Dreyer, David Nuesch and Tom Ward. American Dreamin and Ab Seis Corazones were owned at the time of those races by Dunn Ranch. Ab Seis Corazones was listed as sold for $125,000 by Dunn Ranch to Amaro Racing at Heritage Place sales in Oklahoma City in January. American Dreamin and Ab Seis Corazones were two of three horses that tested positive for carmoterol on five occasions in October and November. The third horse was Blood Viper, who had a positive test in an out-of-competition test taken after a second-place finish in a division of the Golden State Million Futurity trials on Oct. 5. The three horses were from stable of Arrossa, one of the nation’s leading Quarter Horse trainers. Earlier this month, Arrossa was banned from training at Los Alamitos by track management because of the positives. In its decision, the track cited a clause in the applications for backstretch stall that reads, in part, that the track “may revoke any privilege extended under this Agreement, at any time, in their sole discretion,” according to a track spokesman. On March 16, Ramiro Castillo, Arrossa’s longtime assistant, began training horses previously listed as trained by Arrossa. Approximately 35 horses were transferred to Castillo, a racing official said. The Los Alamitos stewards conducted a 40-minute hearing in the purse redistribution cases on March 18. American Dreamin tested positive three times for carmoterol, including in out-of-competition tests taken after a win in the Golden State Million trials on Oct. 5 and after a win in a division of the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity trials on Nov. 24. American Dreamin and Blood Viper were allowed to run in the finals of those stakes because there was insufficient time following the findings of the first test to conduct a second test at a different lab to confirm the initial test, California racing officials said earlier last month. There is a possibility of an appeal of the purse redistributions. During the March 18 hearing, Howard Jacobs, an attorney representing Arrossa, argued before the Los Alamitos stewards that the Golden State Million Futurity purse should not be redistributed because of mistakes made through the testing process. According to Jacobs, the initial urine test taken from American Dreamin after the Golden State Million Futurity revealed a positive for carmoterol, but the urine used to conduct a second test was taken from the remaining contents of the original vial, and not from a second vial as is customary. Jacobs argued that testing officials discarded the second vial after a 30-day period last fall. “It is not the same as testing a split sample,” Jacobs said. “No one knows what the results would have been.” The California Horse Racing Board has scheduled two days of hearings for testimony in late May regarding a possible sanction against Arrossa for the carmoterol positives. Arrossa’s case will be heard by an administrative law judge, who will present a decision regarding a potential penalty against the trainer to the racing board, which can modify, accept or reject the findings. The case may not reach the racing board until mid-summer. Arrossa has had a high profile at Los Alamitos for the last decade, winning many of the track’s leading races. Last year, he ranked first in Quarter Horse wins at the track’s yearlong meeting for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds. Arrossa was third in the Los Alamitos standings by wins in 2022 and second in 2023. Nationally, Arrossa ranked fifth in the nation with stable earnings of more than $3.8 million in 2024. Of the nation’s five leading Quarter Horse trainers by earnings in 2024, four have been cited for positives for carmoterol, including Toby Keeton, Juan Diaz and Heath Taylor, the top three in the rankings. Keeton and Taylor were cited for violations found in runners that started at The Downs at Albuquerque on Labor Day last year. The Keeton-trained Hezgothelook Z, winner of the $3 million All American Futurity, was among the 12 horses that tested positive, New Mexico officials said last month. Diaz and Keeton were cited for carmoterol positives in Texas last September, officials in that state announced in February. Keeton, Diaz and Taylor were all summarily suspended by officials in New Mexico or Texas. California does not have a summary suspension policy. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.