Los Alamitos Futurity an important test for its four entrants

CYPRESS, Calif. – What kind of race was the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1? Storm the Court, a 45-1 shot, beat 28-1 Anneau d’Or and 39-1 Wrecking Crew to create a surprise trifecta.

While Storm the Court will not race until February at Santa Anita, Anneau d’Or and Wrecking Crew will be the first runners from that eight-horse field to return to action when they start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.

The $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles is a chance for Anneau d’Or and Wrecking Crew to confirm they are among the leading hopes for the 2020 Triple Crown.

“For myself, I think we’ve got to come back and validate,” said Blaine Wright, who trains Anneau d’Oro. “I wish we had come away with a win. People said it was a fluke. We wouldn’t be back at the Futurity if we didn’t think he was doing well.”

Storm the Court won the BC Juvenile by a head over Anneau d’Or, who finished 3 1/4 lengths in front of Wrecking Crew, who raced in traffic entering the stretch.

“He ran super,” said Peter Miller, who trains Wrecking Crew for Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen.

“It was bittersweet. He checked into the first turn and checked into the stretch. By then, when he swung out, he had lost his momentum.”

Anneau d’Oro and Wrecking Crew are half of a disappointingly small field in the Los Alamitos Futurity, the fourth race on Saturday’s nine-race program, which begins at 12:30 p.m., Pacific.

Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won this race a record 11 times at Hollywood Park and Los Alamitos, starts the other half of the field – Thousand Words, a maiden race winner in his debut at Santa Anita in October, and the undefeated High Velocity, who beat three rivals to win the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 16.

Baffert has won the Los Alamitos Futurity each of the five years since it was moved from Hollywood Park to Los Alamitos in 2014.

The Los Alamitos Futurity will be the first start around two turns for both High Velocity, a Quality Road colt owned by Gary and Mary West, and Thousand Words, a $1 million yearling purchase who races for Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm.

Thousand Words will be fitted with blinkers for the first time, while the speedy High Velocity will race without blinkers for the first time in his brief career.

Earlier this week, Baffert described the Los Alamitos Futurity as a “big jump” for Thousand Words.

“He can get two turns and it will be tough,” he said. “It’s the same thing for High Velocity, but he’s won two races.”

Anneau d’Oro, owned by Peter Redekop, won his debut in a maiden special weight race on turf by eight lengths at Golden Gate Fields on Sept. 28. In the BC Juvenile, Anneau d’Oro stalked the pace, a style Wright expects to utilize on Saturday.

“We’re going to want to be involved in the race,” Wright said.