Game Winner cruises to victory in Los Alamitos Derby

CYPRESS, Calif. – Game Winner performed to expectation in Saturday’s Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby, drawing away from three overmatched rivals to win his first start since a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

The easy victory put Game Winner on course for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24.

The champion 2-year-old male of 2018, Game Winner ($2.10) stalked early pacesetter Kingly for the first six furlongs, engaged temporary leader Parsimony on the turn, and pulled clear to win by five lengths, finishing 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.30.

“He did it the right way,” said jockey Joel Rosario. “It was very important.”

Game Winner earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 96.

Parsimony, a maiden who was second in the Cinema Stakes on turf at Santa Anita on June 2, finished four lengths clear of Kingly, who was three-quarters of a length in front of Feeling Strong in the field of four.

Game Winner, trained by Bob Baffert, had a half-length advantage with a furlong remaining and pulled clear under mild urging from Rosario.

“He had to show me something,” Baffert said. “I loved the last eighth of a mile. I said to Joel before, ‘Let’s have an easy out and let him get something out of it.’

“It’s a good foundation.”

Game Winner, owned by Gary and Mary West, finished sixth, beaten 3 3/4 lengths in the Kentucky Derby, and was promoted to fifth after the West’s Maximum Security was disqualified in a controversial decision.

Game Winner resumed workouts in early June and had been sharp in recent exercise at Santa Anita. Baffert fitted Game Winner with blinkers for the $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby.

“I think this was the perfect race for him,” Baffert said. “I put the blinkers back on him because I wanted him to get a little bit more focused leaving the gate and into the race a little bit more. He had worked exceptionally well coming into this.”

By Candy Ride, Game Winner has won 5 of 8 starts and earned $2,027,500. He was a three-time Grade 1 winner at 2, a campaign that ended with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs last November to clinch the championship.

The Los Alamitos Derby was Game Winner’s first win in his fourth start this year. He was second by a nose to Omaha Beach in a division of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 16 and second to stablemate Roadster in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6 in his final prep for the Kentucky Derby.