The $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby is a race trainer Bob Baffert rarely loses, and he’s looking for seven in a row on Saturday and 12th in 19 editions of the race since 2000.
Not many, if any, trainers have dominated a single race like Baffert, who manages to place several of his hopefully late-developing 3-year-olds in a winning situation at the track in Cypress, California.
This time, he sends out the three favorites in a field of five going 1 1/8 miles – Nevada Beach at 1-1, Varney at 5-2, and Tiz Secure at 7-2. Their challengers are It’s a Factor at 20-1 and Rank at 9-2.
If you bet on horse racing, the only way to look at this race is Baffert 1-2-3.
While his lightly-raced trio has won 3-of-9 races combined, there’s nothing in the past performances that indicate It’s a Factor or Rank have a chance: It’s a Factor comes in with a nine-race losing streak and has a maiden win on Aug. 22 in 13 career starts; Rank is winless in 13 career starts.
Nevada Beach ran second to stablemate Gaming in the Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 8 in his second career start, with Rank third, 2 ½ lengths behind the winner. The son of Omaha Beach won in his debut on April 19, overtaking pace-setting Rank in the stretch for a three-quarter length triumph.
Varney, a son of Vekoma, comes in after breaking his maiden at fourth asking, winning gate-to-wire by 5 ½ lengths going a 1 1/16 miles at Pimlico on May 17.
Tiz Secure, a son of Maximum Security, makes just his fourth start – last out he ran third in the slop in an optional claimer at Churchill Downs on May 3.
Baffert ran 1-2 in last year’s Los Alamitos Derby with Wynstock and Cornell. His current streak began in 2017 with West Coast, followed by Once on Whiskey (2018), Game Winner (2019), Uncle Chuck 2020), and Classier (2021). The race was not run in 2006, 2010-2012, and 2022-23.
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