Anneau d'Or, Wrecking Crew Face Baffert Colts at Los Al

The Dec. 7 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) lost its grade 1 status this year, though perhaps not its significance as a late 2-year-old prep race for next year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).

Every one of its select cast of four was among the 22 individual betting interests in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager conducted last week by Churchill Downs. TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) runner-up Anneau d'Or went off at 31-1, maiden winner Thousand Words at 34-1, Bob Hope Stakes (G3) winner High Velocity at 40-1, and Juvenile third-place finisher Wrecking Crew the longest shot at 86-1.

Their odds of winning Saturday's $200,000 race, contested at 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Los Alamitos Race Course, are dramatically better under conditions in contrast to the depth they could eventually face in the Derby, where a capacity field of 20 often takes shape. The Los Alamitos Futurity provides Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 basis to its top finishers. 

"Having a Derby prep race with four horses is interesting. Those small fields, sometimes the races can get weird," said Jason Loutsch, racing manager for Albaugh Family Stables, co-owner of Thousand Words. "So I'm sure it will depend on how all the horses break, and hopefully everyone gets a good trip and the best horse wins."

Long before they were scrutinized by Derby bettors, Saturday's foursome commanded attention at public auction, fetching sales prices of $350,000 or more, topped by $1 million yearling Thousand Words, a son of Pioneerof the Nile whom Albaugh Family Stables bought with Spendthrift Farm at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 

Anneau d'Or, a $480,000 buy, shined in the showcase race from "Future Stars Friday" at the Breeders' Cup Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park. Diving into the Juvenile after winning a maiden race on the turf at Golden Gate Fields by eight lengths in his only start, he stalked the pace, made a bold bid to challenge Storm the Court, and fell a head shy of that victorious foe. 

Video: TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1)

"I knew he was off the radar, no one really looked our way, which allowed us to slip through the cracks," trainer Blaine Wright said. "He ran a super race."

The Medaglia d'Oro  colt was cross-entered at the time of Breeders' Cup pre-entries with first preference for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T) but was unable to gain entry there when it overfilled, and he was assigned a position as an alternate. So Wright and owner Peter Redekop decided to try the Juvenile, encouraged by his one race and workouts on the Tapeta surface at Golden Gate Fields, where Wright is based.

"What concerned me more was the slowness and deepness of Santa Anita's racetrack versus how it used to be, hard and fast," Wright said. "Coming off workouts on our Golden Gate surface, on the synthetic, our horses are ultra-fit coming off it to dirt tracks. So we didn't know quite what to expect with the new normal at Santa Anita. That was our biggest obstacle, I think, just wondering how fit we actually had him."

The dirt surface at Los Alamitos, which opens for its winter meet Dec. 6, is typically quick. The track's one race at 1 1/16 miles during its September meet was won by $25,000 claimer Street to Indy in 1:42.69.

Out of the Tapit  mare Walk Close, Anneau d'Or was bought by Alistair Roden Bloodstock for Redekop at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training from the Tom McCrocklin consignment. He is the first foal to race from his dam, who won the Wild Applause Stakes and Modesty Handicap (G3T), both on turf.

Northern California jockey Juan Hernandez will travel to Los Alamitos for the ride.

Wrecking Crew, 3 1/4 lengths behind Anneau d'Or after pulling within 1 1/2 lengths of the Juvenile leaders in midstretch, will seek to improve his finish in his second route. The son of Sky Kingdom  won a maiden race and finished second in the Best Pal Stakes (G2) and Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1) in sprints this summer at Del Mar for owners Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen and trainer Peter Miller.

Abel Cedillo, the leading jockey at Del Mar during the fall meet, will ride him for the second time.

Baffert—an 11-time winner of the Futurity, including all five since the race was moved to Los Alamitos following the closure of Hollywood Park in 2013—adds blinkers to Thousand Words and removes them from High Velocity.

Neither horse has lost in limited action. Thousand Words rallied from fourth to win in his only race Oct. 26 at Santa Anita, and High Velocity won his debut there Oct. 13 before heading to Del Mar and leading at every call in the Nov. 16 Bob Hope.

Won by colts such as Snow Chief, A.P. Indy, Best Pal, Real Quiet, Point Given, Lookin At Lucky , and Shared Belief when it was run at Hollywood Park, the Futurity went to the Baffert-trained Improbable in 2018. Saturday's Futurity, which shares stakes billing with the Starlet Stakes (G1) for 2-year-old fillies, is the fourth race, with a scheduled post time of 1:58 p.m. PT, an hour and a half before the Starlet.