Trainer Bob Baffert dominates the Grade 2 $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity, a race he has now won 14 times thanks to his victory with Wynstock Dec. 16 at Los Alamitos Race Course. Baffert entered three 2-year-olds in the race and won with the longest shot of the three.
During Quarter Horse races at Los Alamitos, Dr. Ed Allred wins often as one of the nation's leading Quarter Horse owners and breeders. It is rarer to see him win a Thoroughbred stakes at the track he has owned for years. Baffert, who got his start at Los Alamitos in Quarter Horses, is always pleased when he can win one for "Doc."
When the gate opened in the 1 1/16-mile Futurity, the five runners broke together. Wine Me Up took a brief lead, but Wynstock surged to the front around the first turn and set all of the fractions, beginning with a quarter-mile time of :23.53.
Wynstock maintained a length advantage into the backstretch. Wine Me Up and Coach Prime began their runs in the second turn, while Stronghold also challenged from the rail. Into the stretch, however, the race came down to Wynstock and Stronghold.
Stronghold appeared to come out slightly, and the two brushed. Stronghold got the advantage, but then Wynstock wrested the lead back. They bumped again before Wynstock gamely pulled away to win by a half-length in 1:43.53.
Coach Prime, a $1.7 million son of Quality Road and fellow Baffert trainee, went off as the 4-5 favorite and finished third. The Baffert-trained, graded stakes-placed Wine Me Up finished fourth as the second choice on the tote board at 1.90-1. Wynstock was the fourth choice of the five-horse field at 13-1.
The stewards posted the inquiry sign following the race because of the contact. However, they ruled that there would be no change, determining that both horses contributed to the incident.
Wynstock was coming off a 7 1/2-length, one-mile maiden win Oct. 15 at Santa Anita Park, a race he also won on the lead. In two efforts at 6 1/2 furlongs before that, he was unplaced while racing well off the pace and with trouble at the start. Kyle Frey rode the winner. He rode Wynstock for the first time in his maiden victory and is 2-for-2 aboard the colt.
"When he gets in front, he has the heart of a lion," Frey said.
Baffert said that he thought Wynstock would be on the lead as he was in his initial victory.
"I couldn't believe he got beat twice going short before that because he had shown so much in the morning," the trainer said. "Coming into the paddock today he looked outstanding. I'm just really happy for Doc — we go way back. To have this moment is special. He bought him and trusted me."
Allred owns Wynstock in partnership with Jack Liebau, vice president of Los Alamitos and a longtime California racetrack executive. They purchased the colt for $700,000 at the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's spring sale of 2-year-olds from the consignment of Caliente Thoroughbreds.
This was Baffert's first win in the Futurity since 2020, when he completed a seven-race winning streak that began in 2014. He first won the race in 1997 with Real Quiet when the race was known as the Hollywood Futurity. His other winners include Point Given in 2000.
Pick 4
5-5-2-2
5-5-2-2
$4,939
Pick 6
3-6-5-5-2-2
3-6-5-5-2-2
$89,795
Pick 6
3-6-5-5-2-2
3-6-5-5-2-2
$1,211
Superfecta
2-3-5-6
2-3-5-6
$10
Super High Five
2-3-5-6-4
2-3-5-6-4
$137
Trifecta
2-3-5
2-3-5
$129
Pick 4
5-5-2-2
5-5-2-2
$4,939
Pick 6
3-6-5-5-2-2
3-6-5-5-2-2
$89,795
Pick 6
3-6-5-5-2-2
3-6-5-5-2-2
$1,211
Superfecta
2-3-5-6
2-3-5-6
$10
Super High Five
2-3-5-6-4
2-3-5-6-4
$137
Trifecta
2-3-5
2-3-5
$129
