The 2014 Los Alamitos Futurity was Classic

It need not be from a time gone by to be considered a classic. Such was the case with last year’s running of the Los Alamitos Futurity. Despite only attracting a field of five, the Grade 1 affair was highly anticipated thanks to the presence of three promising young colts. In Dortmund, Firing Line, and Mr. Z, the very real hope of seeing a future Kentucky Derby winner was in the air. Ultimately, there would be no roses for the trio -- American Pharoah personally saw to that -- but the quality that was on display at Los Alamitos Race Course was amply verified by each’s sophomore season. On Futurity week 2015, I thought it would be a great opportunity to take a look back at one of the finest races run in the United States last season. The sport of thoroughbred horse racing does not get much better than this… The stretch run was one that will not be forgotten. Three quality horses, differing in experience, size, and looks, but on this afternoon they came together in one magnificent shared experience. Despite their youth, Dortmund, Firing Line, and Mr. Z demonstrated to all, lucky enough to watch, what it means to be a thoroughbred.

I can only imagine how it must have felt for Martin Garcia, Rafael Bejarano, and Mike Smith to be such an integral part of a heart-in-the-throat contest like this. Nor can I guess how the stretch run played out in the minds, hearts, and souls for each horse’s connections.

To the determined winner go the spoils, and in this case, 60% of the half million dollar purse. Dortmund would follow it up by winning five stakes races in 2015, and set all the pace in American Pharoah’s Kentucky Derby, before grudgingly giving way to third. With his late season resurgence, the sizable son of Big Brown heads into 2016 as one of the most respected runners in the land. The victories did not come so readily in 2015 for his narrowly vanquished foes, but not due to a lack of quality efforts.

Firing Line was sensational in his first three starts of the year, winning the rich Sunland Derby by 14 ¼ widening lengths. Sandwiching that New Mexico runaway were a pair of terrific runner-up performances to Dortmund in the Robert B. Lewis, and of course, to American Pharoah on the first Saturday in May. It would seem that suffering through three such tough defeats in a span of four races would be almost unfair, but it was through these efforts that we really understood what kind of warrior Firing Line is. Unfortunately, things did not work out for him the rest of the year, not taking to the stormy conditions of the Preakness, and then sidelined by injury. The return of the son of Line of David is planned for 2016, and highly anticipated.

In regards to this year’s racing season, a line from the Grateful Dead comes to mind. What a long, strange trip it’s been for Mr. Z. Twelve ambitious races, all over the country, in 12 months, came and went for the colt. He was even the subject of a quick sale, just so that he could take part in racing’s Middle Jewel. The Ohio Derby proved his only trip to the winner’s circle, but through it all, he kept battling and usually made his presence known, at the very least, in the early part of all his many big races. Looking back, perhaps he was never better than his third place finish one year ago in the big race at Los Al.

This whole hosting of a big thoroughbred horse race thing was pretty new to Los Alamitos. Prompted into the limelight by the demise of historic Hollywood Park, the Southern Californian oval filled in admirably as the host of some of the defunct track’s most important races. And in 2014, none were bigger than the first Los Alamitos Futurity. It was classic.