Baffert Highlights Small Starlet and Los Alamitos Futurity Fields

CYPRESS, CA – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will try for a third consecutive sweep of the Starlet and Los Alamitos Futurity Saturday.

Baffert, who completed the sweep with Chasing Yesterday (Starlet) and Improbable (Futurity) last year after winning the Starlet with Dream Tree and Futurity with McKinzie in 2017, will have two representatives in both of the graded races for 2-year-olds.

Baffert, who has won the Starlet – which is restricted to fillies – five times, is scheduled to run Bast and Gingham in the Grade 1 and High Velocity and Thousand Words in the Grade 2 Futurity, a race he has won 11 times, including all five at Los Alamitos.

Before transferring to Los Alamitos in 2014, the Starlet and Futurity were run at Hollywood Park (1981-2013).

Post time Saturday is 12:30 p.m. The Futurity is the fourth of nine races and has a scheduled post time of 1:58 p.m. while the Starlet goes about 90 minutes later as the seventh race.

The Starlet, whose past winners include Althea, Very Subtle, Goodbye Halo, Sardula, Serena’s Song, Surfside, Blind Luck, Take Charge Brandi and Abel Tasman, is part of the “Road to the Kentucky Oaks’’ series. The winner Saturday will receive 10 points towards earning a berth in the Kentucky Oaks next May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Won previously by stars such as Snow Chief, A.P. Indy, Best Pal, Real Quiet, Point Given, Lookin At Lucky and Shared Belief, the Futurity is part of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby’’ series. Saturday’s winner will receive 10 points towards securing a spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate next May 2 in Louisville.

Check out our Full Picks and Wagering Strategies for Los Alamitos on Saturday 

From the rail out, the field for the Starlet: Roadrunner’s Honor, Geovanni Franco rides, 120 pounds; Bast, Drayden Van Dyke, 120; Donna Veloce, Flavien Prat, 120; Gingham, Abel Cedillo, 120 and K P Dreamin, Ruben Fuentes, 120.

From the rail out, the field for the Los Alamitos Futurity: Anneau d’Or, Juan Hernandez rides, 120 pounds; Wrecking Crew, Abel Cedillo, 120; Thousand Words, Flavien Prat, 120 and High Velocity, Drayden Van Dyke, 120.