An impressive stakes debut for Uncle Chuck, a successful return to California for Sneaking Out and a two-turn tally for Cezanne highlighted the Summer Thoroughbred Festival at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif.
The brief seven-day season concluded Sunday.
A son of Uncle Mo and the Unbridled's Song mare Forest Music, Uncle Chuck toyed with three rivals in the Grade 3, $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby July 4 in his first start since a seven-length debut score June 6.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Uncle Chuck, who was purchased for $250,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale, could make his next start in either the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes Aug. 1 at Del Mar or the Grade 1, $1 million Travers a week later at Saratoga.
The Los Alamitos Derby win – which was worth 20 points for Uncle Chuck towards a berth in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby – was the fourth in a row for Baffert and his fifth in the seven years the race – formerly the Swaps Stakes when offered at Hollywood Park (1974-2013) – has been run at Los Alamitos. Besides Uncle Chuck, he's also won with Game Winner (2019), Once On Whiskey (2018), West Coast (2017) and Gimme Da Lute (2015).
A 4-year-old daughter of Indian Evening owned by breeders KMN Racing LLC and trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Sneaking Out scored a 7-1 upset over heavily-favored Bellafina in the $201,000, Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes July 4.
The win was the fifth in 11 starts for the California bred and pushed her earnings to $431,441. It was the second win in the Great Lady M. for Hollendofer, who captured the inaugural running in 2014 with another Cal bred – Doinghardtimeagain for owner-breeder Tommy Town Thoroughbreds.
A 3-year-old son of Curlin purchased for $3.65 million in March, 2019, Cezanne is 2-for-2 for Baffert and owners Michael Tabor, Michael B. Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and co-breeder St. Elias Stable after his win going a mile July 2. A stakes race could be next for the Kentucky Derby prospect.
Baffert topped the trainer standings with four wins, the 11th time he has either led or shared the title at Los Alamitos since thoroughbred racing returned in July, 2014.
Juan Hernandez, the leading jockey at the recently-concluded Golden Gate Fields meet who decided to move to Southern California at the end of last month, and Edwin Maldonado shared the riding title. Both won six races.
The wealth was spread during the two weeks of racing as 43 different trainers and 52 different owner/partnerships won the 57 races offered.
“I've always said some owners and trainers enjoy more success at Los Alamitos than either Santa Anita or Del Mar,'' said F. Jack Liebau, vice president of the Los Alamitos Racing Association. “I think this is important for the overall financial health of Southern California racing. Although some might disagree, I see it as a positive so many different connections were able to win races during these seven days.
“We also ran a pair of graded stakes during the two weeks and saw a couple of serious Kentucky Derby contenders in Uncle Chuck and Cezanne.''
According to Liebau, all sources handle for the meet, which was spectator-less due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was up approximately 25% over comparable dates in 2019.
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