Uncle Chuck stepping up for Los Alamitos Derby

Uncle Chuck, a member of the Derby Watch top 20, is heading straight into stakes competition following a maiden win last month at Santa Anita, as he will take on stablemate Thousand Words as part of a small field in the Grade 3, $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday.

Uncle Chuck was ridden by Mike Smith in his debut on June 12, in which he got a Beyer Speed Figure of 95, but because Smith will be at Belmont Park on Saturday to ride McKinzie in the Met Mile, trainer Bob Baffert is bringing in Luis Saez to ride. Saez is best known as the regular rider of Eclipse Award winner Maximum Security – the disqualified winner of last year’s Kentucky Derby – who is now in Baffert’s barn.

Others expected for the Los Alamitos Derby were Anneau d’Or, who was fourth most recently in the Santa Anita Derby, and the maiden Cosmo.

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Thousand Words and Anneau d’Or finished one-two last December in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.

The Los Alamitos Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, was added to the Road to the Kentucky Derby points list when the Kentucky Derby was postponed to Sept. 5. It offers 34 points overall, with 20 to the winner, similar to last week’s Ohio Derby and next week’s Indiana Derby. The race was originally worth $100,000, but track owner Ed Allred put in an additional $50,000.

Also Saturday at Los Alamitos is the Grade 2, $200,000 Great Lady M. for older female sprinters going 6 1/2 furlongs, with three-time Grade 1 winner Bellafina heading a field expected to also include Amuse, Artistic Diva, Hang a Star, Sneaking Out, and Zusha.

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