Hall of Famer Baffert enjoys five-win day at Los Alamitos

CYPRESS, Calif. – Hall of Famer Bob Baffert became the third trainer to win five races on a single program in Southern California at Los Alamitos on Saturday. The occasion may be remembered as much for two of the winners as the milestone itself.

Baffert’s quintet of winners included two graded stakes with 2-year-olds – Thousand Words in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity and Bast in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes, the third consecutive year he has swept the track’s pair of leading stakes for juveniles. Baffert won the fourth through eighth races on Saturday’s nine-race program.

Baffert, 66, has won four races on a day on numerous occasions at other Southern California tracks and recalled on Sunday that he won five Quarter Horse races in a day at the track in Prescott, Ariz., in 1983.

“They weren’t consecutive though,” he said. “They each had a $300 purse.”

Saturday’s streak began with a win by Thousand Words ($5.40) in the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity, followed by Speed Pass ($4.40) in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option, Message ($4.60) in an allowance race with a $50,000 claiming option, Bast ($6.40) in the $300,000 Starlet Stakes, and Ra’ad ($3.40) in a maiden special weight race.

Speed Pass and Ra’ad were favored.

“I thought I was live in all of them, and when that happens you’re lucky to win one,” Baffert said after Ra’ad’s win.

“I thought I was live in four Breeders’ Cup races and I got a doughnut.”

Last month, Bast was among Baffert’s runners in Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita, finishing third in the BC Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1. The following day, the Baffert-trained McKinzie finished second in the BC Classic.

Baffert has won a record 12 runnings of the Los Alamitos Futurity – six times at Hollywood Park, which closed in 2013, and the six runnings here since the track began running daytime Thoroughbred races in 2014.

Baffert is the second trainer to win five races on a card in Southern California this year. Doug O’Neill won five races at Del Mar on July 31, equaling a record at that track that he set in 2015.

In 1955, Allen Drumheller Sr. won five races on the July 4 program at Hollywood Park. No trainer has won five races in a day at Santa Anita. At Emerald Downs in Washington state, trainer Frank Lucarelli won the first five races on the Sept. 7 program earlier this year.

Baffert has won four races on a program at Santa Anita on four occasions, most recently in 2012. Phil D’Amato had four wins at Santa Anita on Jan. 26. At Hollywood Park, Baffert won four races once, in 2009. He has never won four races on a program at Del Mar.

Since 1991 in Northern California, Jerry Hollendorfer won five races at Bay Meadows in 1997 and 2004, and three times at Golden Gate Fields, most recently in 2007.

Bast and Thousand Words are not expected to race until well into the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins on Dec. 26, Baffert said.

“It depends on how they’re doing,” he said.

Races such as the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 7 and the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 4 are goals for Thousand Words, while the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 4 is a long-range goal for Bast.

Thousand Words, a $1 million yearling purchase owned by Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm, won his debut in a maiden special weight at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Oct. 26. Ridden by Flavien Prat in the Los Alamitos Futurity, Thousand Words ($5.40) tracked stablemate High Velocity before taking the lead in early stretch.

Thousand Words held off a challenge from Anneau d’Or to win by a neck. Anneau d’Or was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 in his second start.

The Los Alamitos Futurity was the first start at 1 1/16 miles for Thousand Words.

“That was a big jump going from a maiden to two turns against some really good horses,” Baffert said. “I think he’s still an immature type of horse. It took him awhile to come around.

“He didn’t get tired. I see raw talent right now. I was impressed when he came back it wasn’t hard on him. It wasn’t taxing on him.

“Now we know he can go two turns and we know he’s a good horse. We need to keep him healthy and keep him going.”

Anneau d’Or will be based with trainer Blaine Wright’s stable at Golden Gate Fields this winter. As of Sunday, there were no race goals for Anneau d’Oro, who races for Peter Redekop.

Anneau d’Or won his debut in a maiden special weight race at a mile on turf at Golden Gate Fields by eight lengths on Sept. 29 before finishing a head behind Storm the Court in the BC Juvenile.

“He’s run on three different surfaces and he’s shown up on them all,” Wright said on Sunday. “He validated his second race.”

Bast, owned by Baoma Corp., ended her 2-year-old season with three wins in five starts. All the victories were in Grade 1 races. Bast won the Del Mar Debutante in August and the Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita in September prior to finishing third to British Idiom in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

In the Starlet, Bast was always near the front and won by a half-length over Donna Veloce, who was second in the BC Juvenile Fillies.