Gaming appears a standout in the Dec. 14 $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). But any time Bob Baffert has multiple entries in a stakes, the "other" Bafferts can always pose a threat. Of Gaming's four rivals in the 1 1/16-mile race, stablemate Getaway Car looks like his biggest challenge.
Gaming, a son of Game Winner , and Getaway Car, a son of Curlin , have by far the best résumés. Both are coming out of the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar. Of the other three, two are still maidens and one is eligible for a non-winners of two.
Gaming and Getaway Car finished second and fourth, respectively, in the Breeders' Cup behind winner Citizen Bull, yet another Baffert trainee. Citizen Bull has a record of three wins and a third in four starts with two grade 1 victories and is bypassing the Los Alamitos Futurity.
In the Breeders' Cup, Gaming sat in second behind Citizen Bull's pace and couldn't catch him, finishing 1 1/2 lengths back.
"Gaming—I don't think he got away as good as he could have," Baffert said after the race. "I was surprised to see him laying second."
Three different jockeys have ridden Gaming: Juan Hernandez in his maiden win when he led throughout, Flavien Prat in his Del Mar Futurity (G1) victory when the colt ran fifth in the early going, and Irad Ortiz Jr. in the Breeders' Cup. Baffert has put Prat back aboard for the Los Alamitos Futurity, and Gaming drew the rail.
Hernandez has piloted Getaway Car in all five of his outings and is slated to be back aboard from post 3. In addition to his Breeders' Cup performance, Getaway Car won the Best Pal Stakes (G3) at Del Mar, ran fourth in the Del Mar Futurity, and finished second in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) to Citizen Bull at Santa Anita Park.
Baffert's third entrant, Mellencamp, has yet to win, but has started only twice. The Constitution colt ran second in his debut, defeating third-place Journalism, and then ran fourth in a maiden event won by Journalism, with Rank second. Journalism and Rank are the two in the Los Alamitos Futurity not trained by Baffert. Baffert has named Kazushi Kimura to ride Mellencamp from post 2.
Michael McCarthy trains Journalism, who gets the services of Umberto Rispoli from post 5. Another son of Curlin, Journalism is making his stakes debut and coming off his 2 1/2-length maiden win.
Rank, from the Doug O'Neill barn and a son of Honor A. P. , will be ridden by Antonio Fresu and drew post 4. He has started five times, with three seconds. In his only other stakes attempt, Rank ran sixth in the Del Mar Futurity.
The Los Alamitos Futurity offers Road to the Kentucky Derby points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, Saturday, December 14, 2024, Race 8Entries: Los Alamitos Futurity (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Gaming (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Bob Baffert 2/5 2 2Mellencamp (KY) Kazushi Kimura 120 Bob Baffert 15/1 3 3Getaway Car (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 120 Bob Baffert 3/1 4 4Rank (KY) Antonio Fresu 120 Doug F. O'Neill 15/1 5 5Journalism (KY) Umberto Rispoli 120 Michael W. McCarthy 6/1
