LOS ALAMITOS LEADERS
(Through Thursday)
JOCKEYS / WINS
Ramon Vazquez / 4
Armando Aguilar / 3
Juan Hernandez / 3
Edwin Maldonado / 3
Three tied / 2
TRAINERS / WINS
Bob Baffert / 3
Jeff Bonde / 2
Jorge Periban / 2
Milton Pineda / 2
Reed Saldana / 2
WEEKEND STAKES AT LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $200,000 Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity, 2-year-olds, 1 1/16 miles
Sunday
• $100,000 King Glorious Stakes, 2-year-olds bred or sired in CA, 1 mile
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Bob Baffert plans to run both Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba and Messier in the opening-day $300,000 Grade I Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. The Malibu, along with the La Brea Stakes and American Oaks, is one of three $300,000 Grade I stakes on the card. In addition, three $200,000 Grade II stakes – the San Antonio, San Gabriel and Mathis Mile – will be run. Taiba, a candidate for top 3-year-old male of 2022, goes in off a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Messier bled in his last, finishing 11th in a Keeneland allowance Nov. 5.
• Two 2023 Kentucky Derby hopefuls, Giant Mischief and Echo Again, will square off in Saturday’s $400,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park in Oklahoma. Giant Mischief, a son of Into Mischief trained by Brad Cox, is unbeaten in two starts and closed at 27-1 in last month’s second pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. Steve Asmussen trains Echo Again, who was 45-1 in the Derby Future Wager. A Gun Runner colt, Echo Again has won one of two starts and goes into the Springboard Mile off a seventh-place finish in the Grade III Iroquois at Churchill Downs on Sept. 17.
Related Articles
Los Alamitos horse racing consensus picks, Friday, December 16, 2022
Bob Baffert brings trio of hopefuls to Los Alamitos Futurity
Racehorse breaks away from handlers at Los Alamitos, dies from injuries
Los Alamitos horse racing consensus picks, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022
Faiza outlasts Pride of the Nile, wins Hollywood Starlet at Los Alamitos
• Fans throughout the nation love betting races on the turf. Beginning opening day of its meet Dec. 26, Santa Anita is positioned to offer three turf options at sprint and route distances – its unique 6½-furlong downhill course, its 6½-furlong (flat) turf chute and its main grass oval. “Having 10 different options over three courses gives us great flexibility in writing turf races here at Santa Anita,” the track’s director of racing and racing secretary, Chris Merz, said in a press release. “Over the past several years, the demand for turf racing has grown substantially.”
— Art Wilson