Tag: Los Alamitos

High Connection (5) turned aside favored Slow Down Andy to win Bob Baffert his fifth Los Alamitos Derby and first stakes race since his return from suspension.(Image: Benoit Photo)

High Connection Brings Baffert Another Los Alamitos Derby Title

- 2 min read

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert eased back into his post-suspension routine with what has been a routine victory for him: the Los Alamitos Derby. The conditioner captured his fifth consecutive Los Alamitos Derby Saturday with High Connection. That came two hours after Baffert’s Rhetoric won a Los Al maiden […]

Becca Taylor is a nose away from being undefeated in nine races. She heads a seven-horse field in the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Becca Taylor Ready for Los Alamitos Close-Up at Great Lady M Stakes

- 3 min read

Los Alamitos shows off one of its main features during its two-week Los Angeles County Fair Thoroughbred meet Monday with the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes. The 6 ½-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-year-old and up headlines a nine-race Fourth of July card at the small Southern California […]

Grace Adler and Flavien Prat destroyed their rivals by more than 11 lengths in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante in September. She is one of three Bob Baffert horses running the final Grade 1 of the year for 2-year-old fillies: Saturday's Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos. (Image: Behoit Photo)

Baffert Sends Three Looking for Five in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes

- 2 min read

Not surprisingly, Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos has that distinct Bob Baffert flavor to it. That flavor manifests itself with the Hall of Fame trainer sending out three 2-year-old fillies in what is the final Grade 1 of the year for juvenile fillies. To illustrate Baffert’s dominance […]

Gamine, seen here winning April's Las Flores Stakes by five lengths, goes for her third 2021 win and eighth overall in Los Alamitos' Great Lady M Stakes. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Gamine Gets Rare Company for Los Alamitos’ Great Lady M Stakes

- 2 min read

Amazingly enough, standout filly Gamine didn’t scare away the majority of her competitors for today’s Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes on Los Alamitos’ Thoroughbred Racing Festival’s closing day. There are seven would-be rivals awaiting the 4-year-old Champion Filly Sprinter in the gate for the marquee event on Los Alamitos’ […]

Defunded owns only this maiden special weight win in five starts. But the gelding is the 3/5 favorite to win Sunday's Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

As Usual, Los Alamitos Derby Discussion Begins With Baffert

- 3 min read

Someone in this small, but scrappy, Los Alamitos Derby field is going to earn what has heretofore been a difficult achievement for them: a stakes victory.  And as usual in this race, Bob Baffert has the upper hand. Baffert sends out both 3/5 favorite Defunded and 5/2 second-favorite Classier into […]

The Los Alamitos Derby, won by Uncle Chuck last year, has struggled to fill fields lately. It was postponed from Saturday to Sunday in an effort to draw more competitors. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Lack of Entries Pushes Los Alamitos Derby From Saturday to Sunday

- 2 min read

Due to an insufficient number of entries, the Los Alamitos Derby, one of the flagship events on Los Alamitos’ abbreviated summer Thoroughbred card, will run on Sunday instead of Saturday. The $150,000 Grade 3 event, which takes its 3-year-olds 1 1/8 miles around the Southern California track, drew only four […]

Outadore comes into Friday's Springboard Mile off his third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. (Image: Coady Photography)

This Weekend’s Stakes Feature Derby Preps, Return of Ex-Derby Prodigy

- 2 min read

The pre-Christmas lull before the graded stakes storm doesn’t mean there aren’t any graded stakes in this weekend’s racing slate. Nor does it mean this weekend misses good storylines or top-shelf horses. Take the Los Alamitos Futurity and the Mr. Prospector, your two graded stakes this weekend. Curious about potential […]

Prime Factor became a prime Kentucky Derby futures bet after he and Irad Ortiz Jr. blitzed a Gulfstream Park maiden field by 7 3/4 lengths. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photo)

Prime Factor Becomes Choice Derby Futures Pick After Debut Romp

- 3 min read

There were no high-profile stakes races for 2-year-olds last weekend, a fact that didn’t prevent high-profile movement in this week’s Kentucky Derby futures odds. The highest-profile movement came from a new entry to the front rank of Derby prospects, the aptly named Prime Factor. Before his 8-¾-length victory in his […]

Princess Noor won two graded stakes races in her short career, including the Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita Park. That career ended Saturday after the juvenile filly suffered an injury. (Image: Benoit Photo

Standout Juvenile Princess Noor Retired After Suffering Leg Injury

- 2 min read

One day after she was pulled up in the Starlet Stakes, standout 2-year-old filly Princess Noor was retired with a soft-tissue injury. Zedan Racing, Princess Noor’s owner, broke the news about the $1.35 million purchase in a statement issued Sunday morning. “She’s a star and a very talented filly,” Zedan […]

Astute sung a 7 1/2-length victory tune in the Desi Arnaz Stakes. She goes for her first Grade 1 victory in Saturday's Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos. (Image: Benoit Photography)

Which Starlet Will Reign Supreme Among These Precocious Fillies?

- 3 min read

Bob Baffert rarely tastes defeat in the Starlet Stakes, which makes him the perfect trainer to put the crown back on Princess Noor’s head in Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos. To do that, Princess Noor will not only have to beat two of her Baffert stablemates in the […]

Firenze Fire, seen here winning the True North Stakes at Belmont Park, owns two victories at Aqueduct. He's a strong contender for Saturday's Cigar Mile at the Big A. (Image: Chelsea Durand/NYRA)

Have a Grade 1 Cigar as You Handicap This Weekend’s Graded Stakes

- 3 min read

New York’s final Grade 1 race of 2020 headlines this weekend’s bicoastal slate of graded stakes races, coming to you from Aqueduct and Southern California’s Los Alamitos. The Cigar Mile is that Grade 1 farewell from New York. The $250,000 race for 3-year-olds and up is Aqueduct’s flagship winter race. […]

Knicks Go broke the track record in the Breeders' Cup Dirt mile earlier this month. He could run the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Dec. 5. (Image: Coady Photography/Keeneland)

Don’t Take a Holiday on These Late-Season Races

- 3 min read

The Breeders’ Cup is in the rear-view mirror, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any prime late-season races on the horizon. The end of the year may seem like a racing lull before the calendar flips, but don’t let the last two months of the horse racing season go by […]