This Saturday's Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity provides six aspiring 2-year-olds a chance to not only get on the radar for the Road to the 150th Kentucky Derby next May, but also awards points in the series which could be very important as these colts progress physically and mentally.
Bob Baffert, who won the Futurity seven straight times from 2014 through 2020, saddles three of those, with only one having experience in a stakes race. That one is Wine Me Up, who finished second in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes in October before a second-to-last place effort in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile last month.
Stronghold has stakes experience as well, as he finished second last month in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes. Ace of Clubs has both two-turn and stakes experience, albeit on turf, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Zuma Beach Stakes then fifth in the Qatar Golden Mile Stakes in November.
The other three are attempting to go from maiden winner to stakes winner, but that is not unheard of as a number of talented 2-year-olds have accomplished that feat in this race in recent history. Those three horses are Moonlit Sonata, Coach Prime and Wynstock.
Top contenders:
Just in case you're unaware, Coach Prime is named after Deion Sanders, former star football player and now coach of the Colorado University Buffaloes. The horse Coach Prime hasn't yet achieved that level of success, but he might over the next few months if the talent displayed in his 7 1/4-length win last month is indicative of what he might accomplish in the Los Alamitos Futurity and on the Road to the Kentucky Derby in 2024. That win came in only the second race of his career, first around two-turns on dirt, and in the race Coach Prime displayed a tremendous talent as he moved quickly from sixth with a quarter mile to run to be in front by two lengths with an eighth of a mile to go, widening his lead with ease after that. The effort earned a 96 
Equibase Speed Figure which not only indicates the fastest race run to date by any of the horses in this race, it's also as good as the figures earned by the last two winners of this race – Practical Move and Slow Down Andy. Considering we should expect improvement off that effort in the third start of his career, Coach Prime is the one to beat in this race and could provide Bob Baffert with his 11th win in the last 15 editions of the Los Alamitos Futurity.
Phil D'Amato trainee Stronghold has more racing experience, and stakes experience, than Coach Prime and that could mean something in the late stages of this race. After a runner-up debut in August in a six furlong sprint, Stronghold stretched out to two-turns and showed good maturity, as well as ability, when starting out fourth then moving to the lead with three-eighths of a mile to run, before drawing off. In doing so he improved to an 89 figure from 86 in his debut. Stronghold then ran in the Bob Hope Stakes on November 19, where he started third then moved up to engage the leader after six furlongs. Leading by a head at that point, Stronghold succumbed to eventual 8 3/4-length winner Nysos but was still well clear of the third horse at the finish. Although his effort yielded a lesser 83 figure than the previous race, it could have been he didn't have to run that hard to hold second after the cause was lost, so the case can be made Stronghold could improve markedly off his previous effort, and when combined with more racing experience, that gives him a chance at the slight upset.
Moonlit Sonata is trained by Tim Yakteen, who saddled the 2022 Los Alamitos Futurity winner, Practical Move, to victory. Practical Move had finished third in the Bob Hope, similar to Stronghold having finished second in that race this year. Moonlit Sonata broke slowly in a 10 horse field in his debut three weeks ago, but the talented colt put on a display after that by racing six paths wide on the far turn to go from fourth to second entering the stretch, before easily moving by the leader to win by two and one-half lengths. More than a few recent maiden winners in history have won the Los Alamitos Futurity, and considering the 90 figure Moonlit Sonata earned in that debut victory recently, and considering his pedigree (Malibu Moon out of a Distorted Humor mare) strongly suggests he will run even better around two turns, it is entirely possible he can take a big step forward to win this race.
The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Ace of Clubs (89), Wine Me Up (94) and Wynstock (85).
Win contenders, in preference/probability order:
Coach Prime
Stronghold
Moonlit Sonata
Los Alamitos Futurity – Grade 2
Race 9 at Los Alamitos Race Course
Saturday, December 16, 2023 – Post Time 7:30 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Sixteenth
Two Year Olds
Purse: $200,000
The post Equibase Analysis: Coach Prime Should Step Forward Again In Los Alamitos Futurity appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
