Los Alamitos takes the California spotlight Friday

Bridging the gap once again between the Del Mar fall meet and marathon Santa Anita winter-spring meet on the Southern California circuit is seven days of all-dirt racing at Los Alamitos starting on Friday.

The brief stand consists largely of lower-level claiming and state-bred competition, which affords the region’s smaller operations to make hay before the bright lights return at Santa Anita the day after Christmas. 

Five stakes races – three graded – fill the stand, beginning Saturday with the $300,000 Starlet Stakes (G1) for 2-year-old fillies. The 1 1/16-mile heat is an official stop on the road to the 2022 Kentucky Oaks, with qualifying points awarded to the top four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 scale.

A six-pack signed up for the Starlet, including a trio for Bob Baffert and Cairo Memories, who switches to dirt for trainer Bob Hess Jr. after a go in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. 

Baffert's starters are Del Mar Debutante (G1) winner Grace Adler, multiple stakes winner Eda and maiden winner Benedict Canyon. 

Friday's opening day card drew 56 entries for eight races, an average of 7.0 starters per race, and Saturday's Starlet card has an average of 6.8 starters for nine races. Attracting sufficient entries long has been difficult at Los Alamitos. To that end, purses have been increased for a variety of conditions as compared with previous meets. 

"We're trying to get a better product," said Scott Craigmyle, director of racing at Los Alamitos. "For my opening day card, you'll see we have only one five-horse race and the rest are good. I'm working to get more numbers."

The Starlet will be followed a week later by the track’s signature race, the $300,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). The 2022 Kentucky Derby prep, which like the Starlet awards a total of 17 qualifying points to the top four finishers, looks to once again be surrounded by Baffert.

The Hall of Fame trainer has won all seven renewals of the Futurity since it was moved to Los Alamitos. But Baffert horses this year are ineligible to receive Kentucky Derby qualifying points because of his suspension by Churchill Downs after Medina Spirit's failed drug test at this year's Derby.

According to the Los Alamitos racing office, Baffert's Futurity hopefuls include Breeders' Cup Juvenile also-rans Barossa and Pinehurst, though the latter has not worked since that effort and would appear to be a long shot to enter.

Barossa, a $775,000 auction purchase as a yearling, graduated at Santa Anita in mid-October before finishing ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. The Into Mischief colt settled in mid-pack under Juan Hernandez but then failed to offer any response when fading late.

Barossa returned to the tab 14 days later and shows two breezes since that effort.

Baffert’s other Futurity candidates are Messier, winner of the Bob Hope at Del Mar after breaking his maiden at Santa Anita, and Enbarr, a Brody’s Cause colt who won the Capote Stakes at Los Alamitos in his second start on Sept. 18.

The other graded stakes at Los Alamitos is Sunday's $100,00 Bayakoa (G3) for older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles. Rounding out the stakes schedule are the $100,000 Soviet Problem for California-bred 2-year-old fillies on Dec. 10 and its male counterpart two days later, the $100,000 King Glorious, to close out the stand on Dec. 12. Both are one mile.

First post at Los Alamitos is 4 p.m. EST on weekdays and 3:30 p.m. EST on weekends. Awaiting horseplayers is a betting menu that features a couple of tweaks from what has become the standard fare at Southern California’s two other tracks. Most notably, the Pick 6 is a traditional $2 minimum wager with no jackpot provision. Additionally, Los Alamitos will have only one Pick 5 per day, starting with the first race.

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