It was a good day at Los Alamitos Race Course for the owner of the track and the vice president of its racing association – their horse Wynstock won the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) at odds of 13-1.
Neither Dr. Edward Allred nor F. Jack Liebau were too worried about a stewards’ inquiry after Wynstock and runner-up Stronghold brushed up against each other in the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile race on Saturday.
The New York-bred Wynstock was the longest shot of three of the five horses in the race trained by Bob Baffert.
“To have this moment is special,’’ Baffert said after winning this race for the eighth time in the last 10 years and 14th time overall. “I’m so excited. I’m just so happy (for Dr. Allred). He and I go way back. He bought this horse and trusted me.”
The win for Baffert was not a surprise, but the horse that won was, as the trainer’s Coach Prime was the 4-5 favorite and his Wine Me Up was 19-10. Wynstock ($29.40 for a $2 win bet) won by a half-length; Coach Prime was third behind Stronghold, Wine Me Up was fourth, and Ace of Clubs was fifth.
Wynstock, ridden by Kyle Frey, moved to the lead early, held off a challenge from Wine Me Up, and then was confronted by Stronghold in mid-stretch. There was some slight brushing up, but the stewards ruled no change in the order of finish.
After losing his first two races as the favorite at 6 ½ furlongs, Wynstock won by 7 ½ lengths going a mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 15 with Frey aboard.
The winning time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:43.53.
“I thought (Wynstock) would be on the lead today because when I sent him long the first time that’s how he won,’’ said Baffert. “I couldn’t believe he got beat twice going short before that because he had shown so much in the morning. When he went long, we put (Frey) on him and he got him away from there, so I told Kyle I’d leave him on this horse because they get along great together.”
The Futurity is a Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points race, with 10-5-3-2-1 points available to the top five finishers. But Baffert trainees are ineligible for points due to Churchill Downs’ ban of the trainer.