On heels of tragedy, Baffert goes for eighth straight Los Al Futurity
The attention focused on Bob Baffert temporarily shifts this weekend, from Monday morning tragedy to Saturday afternoon ceremony.
Five days after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit collapsed and died at the finish of a Santa Anita workout, Baffert starts over Saturday with a promising 2-year-old favored to give the trainer his eighth straight win in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.
Messier faces four rivals in the $300,000 Futurity, a 1 1/16-mile race that can offer an early look at Kentucky Derby prospects. The relevance of the 2021 Futurity is uncertain, however, because Churchill Downs has barred Baffert through 2023.
But at Los Alamitos, Baffert is unstoppable. He has won 24 of the track’s 37 graded stakes since daytime racing began in 2014, and the dominance is likely to continue Saturday. Including six wins at Hollywood Park, Baffert has won the Futurity 13 times.
Baffert starts Messier and Barossa on Saturday; Doug O’Neill entered Durante and Slow Down Andy. Olympic Legend, a first-time gelding, completes the Futurity field. It is not a deep group.
Messier adds blinkers after taking them off for his win in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes. Equipment changes are not common for a horse coming off a 3 1/2-length stakes victory, but Baffert and jockey Flavien Prat believe Messier ran better wearing blinkers in his maiden win than he did in the Bob Hope.
“Prat thought he was never really focused during the race, he said he was sort of gawking. He wasn’t in the bridle,” Baffert said. “When he ran [with blinkers] the first time, he didn’t get rank or anything. Prat said he was ‘in hand’ better. They’re just to keep him more focused.”
Baffert labels Messier and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Corniche his current top 2-year-olds. After a strong team work Monday, with blinkers, Baffert looks forward to stretching out the Empire Maker colt to two turns. And if 2-for-3 Messier develops into a top 3-year-old next season, one reason will be his demeanor.
“He has a great mind,” Baffert said, citing his Bob Hope win. “He had never been to Del Mar, he shipped that morning, and walked into that paddock like it was no big deal.”
Baffert’s Futurity winners include five favorites from 2014-18, and second favorites the past two years. Messier is expected to be heavily favored.
Barossa will be the first horse from the BC Juvenile to run back, and Baffert expects a better performance than his ninth in the BC Juvenile.
“He’s a speed horse, it wasn’t an ideal trip for him,” Baffert said. “And, he was chasing a damn good horse” in Corniche.
Barossa, whose 87 Beyer Speed Figure two back in a maiden win is the highest by a Futurity entrant, was unable to establish position in the Juvenile, chased from fifth, and surrendered.
“He needs to break and get running. He likes to be in the clear,” Baffert said.
Juan Hernandez rides Barossa.
While the Baffert duo appears formidable, O’Neill is hopeful Durante will continue to develop. Sixth in his sprint debut, runner-up to Barossa second out at a mile, Durante wired a maiden mile last out. O’Neill acknowledges the hike from maiden to Grade 2.
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“It’s a lot to ask of him, but when you break your maiden in a straight maiden going two turns at Del Mar, you feel like you’re in the better half of the class at this point,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill has been teaching Durante to ration his speed, but he prefers to go.
He’s got a lot of speed. We’ve been trying to get in behind horses and settle, and sometimes his workouts have gone faster than we would have thought,” O’Neill said.
Durante broke off five lengths behind Futurity entrant Slow Down Andy in a Santa Anita training-track work last Saturday and finished a neck behind his rival who was hard-ridden. Durante did not pass Slow Down Andy on the gallop-out. Durante was timed in 59; Slow Down Andy was timed in 1:00.
Umberto Rispoli rides Durante in the Futurity.
Slow Down Andy, a California-bred stakes runner-up last out, is nominated to the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds on Sunday at Los Alamitos. Slow Down Andy will run long for the first time this weekend, in either the Futurity or King Glorious.
Olympic Legend, who defeated Messier in a maiden race in June, returns from a three-month layoff as a first-time gelding. He will be running long for the first time.