Reincarnate comes to life, captures Los Alamitos Derby for Baffert

Two months after finishing up the track in the Kentucky Derby, a replenished Reincarnate put his speed to good use and held off a closing Skinner to post a 2 1/2-length victory in Saturday's $125,000 Los Alamitos Derby, giving trainer Bob Baffert his seventh-straight victory in the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds.

Ridden by Juan Hernandez, the even-money favorite bounded to the front of the five horse field assembled for the listed stakes and carved out fractions of 23.23 and 47.25 seconds and 1:11.99 under only mild pressure from Prince Abu Dhabi and Abeliefinthislivin, as Skinner raced a few lengths behind in fourth.

The John Shirreffs-trained Skinner, who was making his first start since April 8after being scratched shortly before the Kentucky Derby, was floated out a bit entering the stretch by Prince Abu Dhabi before mounting his usual late charge, which came far too late to catch Reincarnate. Prince Abu Dhabi held on for third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Skinner.

Baffert indicated after the race that he has big summer plans for Reincarnate, who finished 13th in Louisville after racing near the early pace..

 “We used this race as a prep with (2017 3-year-old champion) West Coast for the Travers and we’d like to do the same with this colt with a race like that," he said. "I told Juan that he was back to how he was when he won the Sham (G3) Jan. 28 at Santa Anita). It was very important to get the win with him especially when you know good (runner-up) Skinner is. This race always comes up tough and it was a big win for the team.’’

The winner, who stoped the timer in 1:48.72, paid $4 on a $2 win ticket and improved his record to 5: 2-0-2, food for earnings of just over $338,000.