Strong fields shaping up for Los Alamitos Futurity, Starlet Stakes

Anneau d’Or and Wrecking Crew, second and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, are scheduled to start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles for 2-year-olds.

Storm the Court, the upset winner of the BC Juvenile at 45-1, will not start and is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 1.

Storm the Court won the BC Juvenile by a head over Anneau d’Or, who was making his second start following a win in a maiden special weight race at Golden Gate Fields on Sept. 29. Wrecking Crew, who finished 3 1/4 lengths behind Storm the Court, was second in two stakes at the Del Mar summer meeting – the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs and the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.

Trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday that he plans to have two runners in the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity – Eight Rings, who won the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27 and was sixth in the BC Juvenile, and Thousand Words, a $1 million yearling purchase in 2018 who won his debut in a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Oct. 26.

Baffert said he will start Bast and Gingham in Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. The $300,000 Starlet is led by Donna Veloce, who was a game second by a head to British Idiom as the 2-1 favorite in the BC Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 in her second start.

Bast was third in the BC Juvenile Fillies after winning consecutive Grade 1 races in the Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Aug. 31 and the Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 27. Gingham won a maiden special weight race at a mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 31.

The two-week Los Alamitos meeting begins on Friday and runs through Dec. 15.

◗ At Del Mar on Monday morning, Omaha Beach worked a half-mile in 50.20 in preparation for the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santaw Anita on Dec. 26., and Honor A.P. worked five furlongs in 100.80 for an expected start in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Saturday.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman