Light the City, Lord Nelson target Grade 1 races

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two-year-old stakes winners Light the City and Lord Nelson are unlikely to run in the Breeders’ Cup but have Grade 1 goals at Los Alamitos in December, their trainers said.

Light the City won her stakes debut in Sunday’s $76,500 Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita, winning the six-furlong race by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:09. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Light the City’s main goal later this year is the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Los Alamitos, with a likely start in the $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes over seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 16. The Desi Arnaz Stakes was previously run as the Moccasin Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Hollendorfer said Light the City is unlikely for the BC Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1. The filly races for Cheyenne Stables.

“We’d love to run in the Breeders’ Cup, but it’s a little quick back,” he said.

Lord Nelson rebounded from a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes on Sept. 27 to win Monday’s $101,000 Speakeasy Stakes.

Trained by Bob Baffert for Peachtree Stable, Lord Nelson won the six-furlong Speakeasy Stakes by 6 3/4 lengths in 1:09.25, the colt’s first stakes win in his third start.

Baffert said the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20 is the main goal for Lord Nelson, who is by Pulpit.

“He’s bred to go farther,” Baffert said. “He’ll get better with age.”