Baffert Seeks to Continue Dominance in Los Al Futurity

Even by his standards, Bob Baffert's current spoils are overflowing at a rate to where he must take a measured step back in order to take them all in.

He is accustomed to having an exceptional pipeline of talent to work with, hence his 15 Triple Crown race victories and two sweeps of racing's Holy Grail. But three decades into a career that will go down as one of the most accomplished the game has ever witnessed, the Hall of Fame conditioner—who is as astute as any with honing young talent—might just have more pupils than ever at his disposal.

With every passing day during the recently concluded Del Mar meet, new juvenile runners from the Baffert barn seemed to jump up and tout themselves as potential heirs to what has become a massive throne. While he already has the expected divisional champion in unbeaten Game Winner, what's scary is the very real prospect that the conditioner with the deepest bench might have his best collective class of recruits ever still sorting themselves out.

"There is a lot of talent out there," Baffert declared of his juveniles. "I think a lot of it is because (2015 Triple Crown winner) American Pharoah  opened the floodgates. That's why I have so many nice 2-year-olds now. Someone said to me, 'You have all the nice 2-year-olds.' Well, it took me 30 years to get to this spot. But those horses, they spoil me rotten. And you know what? It makes me hungrier to see if we can do it again."

One of the great launching points for future Baffert stars has been the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity (G1). The trainer has won seven of the last 10 editions, including the last four, and his heavy hand in the 1 1/16-mile test stands a good chance of being raised triumphantly again this weekend when he sends out unbeaten stablemates Improbable and Mucho Gusto in this year's renewal Dec. 8.

It's become a good-natured punch line this fall that trying to beat Baffert-trained juveniles is the ultimate exercise in futility. From the 30 2-year-old starters Baffert had sent out through Dec. 5, 29 victories have been produced for a ridiculous 57% win percentage. Game Winner, hero of the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), has been responsible for three top-level triumphs and is a slam dunk to be named champion 2-year-old male when Eclipse Award balloting takes place. Still, Baffert uses the phrase 'superstar' more than once when talking about the slew of young protégés in his care.

To see Improbable from a distance is to think Triple Crown winner Justify  has come out of retirement and resumed his on-track career. Sporting the same chestnut coat and near identical white blaze as his famed predecessor, Improbable has given owners WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and SF Racing reason to think they might have another baby monster on their hands. The son of City Zip broke his maiden on debut at Santa Anita Park Sept. 29 before taking the one-mile Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs Nov. 2 by 7 1/4 lengths.

"We call him Mini-Me," Baffert said of Improbable's resemblance to the larger-framed Justify. "He's about three-quarters the size of Justify, but he's still growing. He's still immature, but we know he's a good horse. We just don't know how good he is. But we'll find out this week going two turns."

Improbable worked a bullet five furlongs in :59 4/5 at Santa Anita Park Dec. 3, displaying the same fluid ground coverage Baffert has seen from some of his best.

"You know what it is, it's his mechanics. He just has a beautiful stride, and the farther he goes, he just has this beautiful stride," Baffert said. "That's one thing about Justify and Pharoah is their mechanics. They just did it effortlessly."

Owned by Michael Lund Petersen, who won the 2015 CashCall Futurity with Mor Spirit , Mucho Gusto also brings a 2-for-2 record to Saturday's test. The son of Mucho Macho Man  broke his maiden in gate-to-wire fashion over the Los Alamitos main track Sept. 20 and scored another frontrunning victory over fellow CashCall entrant Savagery in the Nov. 17 Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at Del Mar.

"I just feel really fortunate that I'm 65 and I'm still getting the good horses," Baffert said. "But you have to work harder, you cannot rest. I really think I'm a better trainer than I was five years ago. And when you're working with these kind of horses, my job is if you have a star athlete, keep them happy, keep them sound, and find the right races for them."

Entries: Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1)

LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, Saturday, December 08, 2018, Race 5

• Grade I
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 2 yo
• 2:28 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Improbable (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	120	Bob Baffert	6/5
2	2Savagery (KY)	Florent Geroux	120	Peter Miller	8/1
3	3Dueling (KY)	Mike E. Smith	120	Jerry Hollendorfer	6/1
4	4King of Speed (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	120	Jeff Bonde	15/1
5	5Extra Hope (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Richard E. Mandella	7/2
6	6Mucho Gusto (KY)	Joseph Talamo	120	Bob Baffert	3/1