Los Alamitos meet ends on a Pleasant note

Los Alamitos concludes a quiet two-week daytime meet Sunday with an unpretentious closing-day card on which a well-bred comeback filly faces two stakes winners in the featured sixth race.

The fireworks are next week at Santa Anita, with a host of Breeders’ Cup prep races and a reconfigured wagering menu. The fall meet begins Friday and includes the California Crown festival on Saturday, featuring what Santa Anita calls “entertainment like never before.”

Of course, an afternoon of racing at any track is more enjoyable when it includes winning bets. And while Los Alamitos in September is merely a buffer between Del Mar summer and Santa Anita fall, the three tracks do share a common denominator – horses run fast, and corner left.

Pleasant must run faster than ever to win Sunday’s second-level allowance feature at Los Alamitos. The 2-for-3 filly makes her first start in more than a year, facing stakes winners Tom’s Regret and Rose Maddox in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares.

Bob Baffert trains Pleasant for Juddmonte Farms. Sired by Munnings, Pleasant is the first runner from an unraced dam. But her second dam is Grade 1 winner Honest Lady, produced by superior broodmare Toussaud. In addition to Honest Lady, Toussaud also produced Grade 1 winners Empire Maker and Chiselling, and Grade 2 winner Decarchy.

Pedigree aside, Pleasant can run. She defeated subsequent Grade 2 winner Ruby Nell in her career debut in spring 2023, and finished second to subsequent Grade 1-placed/Grade 3 winner Clearly Unhinged in an entry-level allowance next out.

The third start by Pleasant looked like a disaster. She stumbled badly at the break, recovered, chased from second, and won by more than four lengths under Juan Hernandez, who rides her Sunday. The race took a toll. Pleasant worked twice afterward, then went to the sidelines.

Sunday’s allowance is the first start for Pleasant in more than a year, but she has 13 recorded drills since she resumed workouts in June. Pleasant, whose career-high Beyer Speed Figure is 85, is fit and ready to face two veteran stakes winners.

Steve Miyadi trains Tom’s Regret and Rose Maddox, drawn inside and outside, in the five-runner field. Tom’s Regret, two-time winner of the Pleasanton Oaks, drops from a troubled fifth at Del Mar in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap, won by Sweet Azteca. Kyle Frey rides Tom’s Regret, who has finished first or second in eight of her 10 starts on dirt.

Although all four stakes wins by Rose Maddox were on turf or synthetic, her dirt form is not bad. Seven dirt starts produced a win and three seconds, including two runner-up finishes in California-bred stakes. Armando Aguilar is named to ride. Glorious Spring and Don’t Bring Crazy also entered.

Two other races Sunday merit attention, including race 2, a maiden sprint for older California-breds. Second-time starters Majestic Palisades and Brunchandcrunch top the field. Race 9 is a starter allowance in which Hondo Crouch is expected to start favored.

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