Baffert Goes for 14th Los Alamitos Futurity

Though four of the five horses entered in the Dec. 17 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) are eligible for a non-winners of two and the fifth is a maiden, their potential is limitless. Three come from the powerful Bob Baffert barn, and Arabian Lion  is one of Baffert's top young prospects.

Zedan Racing Stables' Arabian Lion has only started twice, winning by three lengths in his Oct. 9 debut at Santa Anita Park and finishing second in a fast allowance race at Keeneland on the undercard of the first day of the Breeders' Cup. In both races, the son of Justify   went off as the odds-on favorite, which could happen again in the 1 1/16-mile Futurity.

"I wanted to ship him (to Keeneland) and see how he'd handle the ship," said Baffert. "I took the blinkers off for his race at Keeneland because I was trying to get him to relax a little bit. He broke, and then he stumbled like about 10 jumps away from there."

Giant Mischief  beat Arabian Lion by three-quarters of a length, and then it was 17 1/2 lengths back to the next horse. Though Baffert was disappointed Arabian Lion didn't win, the colt demonstrated that he could ship well and "he's got a pretty good mind."

Baffert plans to run Arabian Lion in the Futurity without blinkers to help him learn to relax. The colt drew post 5 and will have John Velazquez aboard.

Carmel Road , a son of Quality Road  , and Fort Bragg , a son of Tapit  , are Baffert's other two in the Futurity. Baffert has named Juan Hernandez on Carmel Road from post 2 and Flavien Prat on Fort Bragg from post 3.

Carmel Road won his second start by 8 3/4 lengths and then finished unplaced behind winner Forte  in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) when drawing in from the also-eligible list. 

"You can just draw a line through that," Baffert said. "He had post 14—do we scratch or do we run? He's come back and worked really well, and he's a fast horse."

Fort Bragg was disqualified from victory in his second start. Baffert said that Fort Bragg spooked when he saw the starting gate in the stretch. The colt drifted out, causing interference with second-place Practical Move , who was declared the winner.

"He's a very talented horse, but mentally he's still very immature, looks at everything," said Baffert. "I put blinkers on him, but with blinkers he was too rank."

With blinkers in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Santa Anita, Fort Bragg led throughout and won by three-quarters of a length. Baffert said that he has since taken the blinkers off but that Fort Bragg "just wants company." Fort Bragg will run in the Futurity without blinkers.

"They're still babies," Baffert said. "It's interesting to see what they do and handle the long stretch (of Los Alamitos)."

Baffert has won the race a phenomenal 13 times, including from 2014-20.

Practical Move (Ramon Vazquez, post 4) and Tall Boy  (Umberto Rispoli, post 1) are the two horses in the field not trained by Baffert and the only ones eligible to earn qualifying points in the race, which is a minor qualifier in the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Tim Yakteen trains Practical Move, who followed his maiden win with a third in the Bob Hope Stakes (G3). Tall Boy is still a maiden after three starts, but with a second and a third.

Entries: Los Alamitos Futurity (G2)

LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, Saturday, December 17, 2022, Race 4

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 2 yo
• 1:48 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Tall Boy (KY)	Umberto Rispoli	120	Leandro Mora	20/1
2	2Carmel Road (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	Bob Baffert	2/1
3	3Fort Bragg (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Bob Baffert	4/1
4	4Practical Move (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	120	Tim Yakteen	8/1
5	5Arabian Lion (KY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Bob Baffert	4/5