Game Winner part of small field for Los Alamitos Derby

CYPRESS, Calif. – The Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday is likely to have four entrants, its smallest field in six years, with a field consisting of three horses trained by Bob Baffert and one by Hector Palma.

Baffert said Wednesday that he entered Game Winner, Kingly, and Mucho Gusto but may run Mucho Gusto in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 20 at Monmouth Park.

“I put him in there for insurance in case something would happen or I change my mind for the Haskell,” he said.

Palma will start Feeling Strong, who was second in the California Cup Derby for statebreds earlier this year at Santa Anita.

The Los Alamitos Derby has drawn five to eight starters in its five runnings at Los Alamitos. The race had four starters in 2013, when run as the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park.

The $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles will be the first start for Game Winner since he finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby on May 4. The champion 2-year-old male of 2018, Game Winner was second in a division of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in March and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April.

Game Winner finished a half-length behind Roadster in the Santa Anita Derby. Roadster was 15th in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 and second to Mucho Gusto in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes on June 16 at Santa Anita.

Roadster has not worked since the Affirmed but will in coming weeks at Del Mar, Baffert said.

“He’s just galloping,” Baffert said. “I’ll work him when I get to Del Mar.”

The Baffert-trained Improbable – fourth in the Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Preakness Stakes on May 18 – is on a similar schedule.

“We’re getting geared up for the second half of the year,” Baffert said.

Los Alamitos officials were hoping to have a nine-race program for Saturday, but entries were slow Wednesday, making that many races unlikely. The meeting, which ends Sunday, has been plagued by small fields.

Short fields in stakes are not exclusive to Los Alamitos. At the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting that ended June 23, the track drew three starters for the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes for female sprinters May 19 and four starters for the $100,000 Dream of Summer Stakes for statebred female milers on June 22.