Prospect Park picks up Baze for Los Alamitos Derby

ARCADIA, Calif. – Prospect Park, second in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 7, will be ridden by Tyler Baze in the $350,000 Los Alamitos Derby on July 4, trainer Clifford Sise said Thursday.

The Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby will be run at 1 1/8 miles and is the richest race of the two-week summer meeting at Los Alamitos, which runs from Thursday through July 12.

Baze replaces Kent Desormeaux, who is scheduled to ride Texas Red, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November, in the $500,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 4.

Prospect Park races for owners and breeders Marty and Pam Wygod. By Tapit, Prospect Park finished behind Dortmund twice this year – a second in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes in March and a fourth in the Santa Anita Derby. In the Affirmed Stakes, Prospect Park was second at 3-5, closing from last in a field of four to finish a half-length behind Gimme Da Lute.

Sise said Prospect Park has thrived in recent weeks.

“He’s so good right now,” Sise said.

The candidates for the Los Alamitos Derby include Gimme Da Lute; Kentuckian, who won the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera Stakes for 3-year-olds on May 10; and Pain and Misery, who was second in the Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on May 2 and won the Charles Taylor Derby at The Downs at Albuquerque on June 6.