Top Fortitude to be pointed to Los Alamitos Derby

ARCADIA, Calif. – Top Fortitude, a stakes winner in May who was second June 7 in the Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont Park, is being pointed for the $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby on July 5, trainer Kory Owens said Sunday.

The Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby will be run over 1 1/8 miles and will be the longest race of Top Fortitude’s career. In the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes over seven furlongs, Top Fortitude closed from ninth in a field of 13 to finish 7 1/2 lengths behind the runaway winner Bayern.

“I think it will be a jump going from seven-eighths to a mile and an eighth,” Owens said. “I don’t think he’ll have too much trouble. It depends on how tough it will be.”

Top Fortitude races for the Owens family’s Triple AAA Ranch and has won 2 of 4 starts and earned $187,250. Top Fortitude won the Grade 3 Laz Barrera Stakes over seven furlongs May 10 at Santa Anita.

The Los Alamitos Derby field could include Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, and Candy Boy, who won the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes in February but was 13th in the Kentucky Derby. Shared Belief fought foot problems earlier this year, and has won his only start – an allowance race against sprinters May 26 at Golden Gate Fields.

Owens said he hopes the Los Alamitos Derby will lead to lucrative races later this summer for Top Fortitude.

“If he’s competitive, there are a lot of races back East,” he said.

** Midnight Lucky won her only start this year in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff by an impressive 4 1/4 lengths May 3 at Churchill Downs. It will remain her only start for the foreseeable future.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that 4-year-old Midnight Lucky will not race this summer.

“I won’t run her until the fall,” Baffert said.

Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, Midnight Lucky has won 4 of 5 starts and earned $565,022. In 2013, she won the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park and the Sunland Park Oaks in New Mexico.

Following the Humana Distaff, Midnight Lucky had three recorded workouts at Churchill Downs through May 25 but has not had a recorded workout this month.