Spielberg noses The Great One in Los Alamitos Futurity

CYPRESS, Calif. – It was a cliffhanger finish, but since it was the Los Alamitos Futurity, was there really any doubt how this movie was going to end?

For the 13th time overall, including all seven since the Futurity was moved to Los Alamitos from Hollywood Park, it was trainer Bob Baffert who was standing in the winner’s circle, this time after Spielberg got up in the last jump to nose out longshot The Great One in the Grade 2, $200,500 race for 2-year-olds.

“He needed every bit of that stretch,” Baffert said.

Spielberg ($5.80) stayed three paths wide the whole way and plugged away determinedly to get up and nail the maiden The Great One, who led every step but the one that mattered most. It was another 3 1/2 lengths back to third-place Petruchio.

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Red Flag, the 4-5 favorite, came up flat in the stretch run and finished fourth, beating only Weston and Positivity.

Spielberg covered 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:42.56. He earned 10 points toward a berth in the Kentucky Derby next May 1 at Churchill Downs.

The Great One had a clear lead through fractions of 23.01 seconds for the quarter, 47.15 seconds for the half, and 1:10.66 for six furlongs. Weston was closest early, but was done after six furlongs. Red Flag, inside much of the way, had to wait approaching the far turn, but tipped out to the three path in upper stretch, failed to change leads, and lost his punch. At midstretch, The Great One looked as though he’d score at 33-1, but Spielberg ran him down.

Spielberg was a $1 million buy as a yearling, but to date the box office returns had been disappointing. He owned one win in five starts, and though he had finished second in the Del Mar Futurity and third in the American Pharoah – both Grade 1 races – he was coming off the worst performance of his career, a fourth-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 Bob Hope at Del Mar, which was won by Red Flag.

In the Bob Hope, Spielberg was coming back in 14 days, and he shipped down the day of the race from Santa Anita. He didn’t handle that well at all, fretting in the paddock before tanking on the track.

“I thought it was going to be an easy spot, but he didn’t ship well and he was nervous in the stall there,” Baffert said.

Spielberg had a five-week gap to the Futurity, but he wasn’t a certainty for the race until a satisfactory workout last Sunday.

“I wasn’t sure he was going to run. He had to work well,” Baffert said.

“He shipped well today,” Baffert said.

Flavien Prat, riding Spielberg for the first time, kept him outside horses after starting from the outside post in the field of six. He said that even though this was Spielberg’s sixth race, “he’s still learning.”

“It’s hard to get everything out of him,” Prat said.

“He’s got a little coyote,” Baffert said. “He’s still growing up. He’s a beautiful horse, and they ran pretty fast.”

Spielberg, by Union Rags, is owned by the partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm, and Robert “Bat” Masterson, many of whom were involved with both Justify and Authentic, two of the last three Kentucky Derby winners, also for Baffert.