Klimt ready to get year started

CYPRESS, Calif. – Klimt, who will have his 2017 debut in Saturday’s Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby, has been largely forgotten in recent months.

A winner of his first four starts, including the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September, Klimt has not raced since finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita last November.

Since then, Klimt has switched stables, going from Bob Baffert to Art Sherman. The change occurred when owner Kaleem Shah parted ways with Baffert and sent several runners to Sherman.

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Sherman said in January that Klimt would be given a two-month break and would not be considered for the Triple Crown races. The colt did not begin workouts this year until late April but has impressed Sherman enough for him to consider the $200,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles as a worthy starting point.

“He’s improving,” Sherman said last weekend. “Getting him fit to go a mile and an eighth is quite a job. It was either this or ship him back east. I thought it would be a lot easier here.”

Sherman said a trip east for a stakes later this summer is possible for Klimt, who will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano in the Los Alamitos Derby. Sherman was encouraged when Klimt worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 last Saturday and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.

“He’s a good horse, but if he’s ready to perform at his best, I don’t know,” Sherman said. “It’s hard to say.”

The Los Alamitos Derby is the final graded stakes for 3-year-olds on dirt in California until the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

As of last weekend, the race had a probable field of nine, including B Squared, Cistron, Colonist, Grecian Fire, Kimbear, Milton Freewater, Term of Art, and West Coast.

West Coast won the Easy Goer Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park on June 10, his third win in his last four starts. On Monday at Santa Anita, West Coast worked five furlongs in 1:00.

Sorry Erik, fourth in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 24, is a possible starter, trainer Keith Desormeaux said.

O’Neill 3-year-olds travel

Doug O’Neill trains B Squared, Milton Freewater, and Term of Art and has 3-year-olds bound for stakes at other venues in the coming weeks. Irap, the winner of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in April and the Ohio Derby at Thistledown, is bound for Saturday’s Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand.

O’Neill said on Sunday that Pavel, a nominee for the Los Alamitos Derby, will be pointed for the Grade 3, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at 1 1/8 miles at Mountaineer Park on Aug. 5.

Owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam, Pavel won his debut in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs by 4 1/2 lengths at Santa Anita on July 1, earning a stellar Beyer Speed Figure of 97.

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On Sunday at Los Alamitos, the 3-year-old Ann Arbor Eddie won his first start since March in an optional claimer at six furlongs for the Reddams and O’Neill. Ridden by Mario Gutierrez, Ann Arbor Eddie ($9.40) rallied three wide to finish 1 3/4 lengths in front of 5-1 Mr. Opportunist. Microrithms, the even-money favorite, was third.

Ann Arbor Eddie, who has won 4 of 7 starts and earned $294,580, is a candidate for the $150,000 Real Good Deal Stakes at seven furlongs for California-breds at Del Mar on July 28.

Ann Arbor Eddie won the King Glorious Stakes here in December and the California Cup Derby at Santa Anita in January. He was later taken out of training with a splint-bone injury after finishing fifth in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in March.