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California-Bred Play Chicken All Heart In King Glorious At Los Alamitos

Play Chicken, a 13-1 outsider, held off Moving Fast, another longshot at 16-1, to win the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes Sunday, the final day of the Los Angeles County Fair Winter meet at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif.

Under jockey Mario Gutierrez, the son of Square Eddie and the Distorted Humor mare Smoove was reserved just off the pace, gained the advantage with an eighth of a mile to run and held sway by a neck in the race for 2-year-olds bred or sired in California.

The win was the third in the King Glorious for Gutierrez, owner-breeder J. Paul Reddam's Reddam Racing LLC and trainer Doug O'Neill. They teamed to win back-to-back runnings with Found Money (2015) and Ann Arbor Eddie (2016).

Making his first start in blinkers, Play Chicken completed the mile in 1:38.10 and returned $29, $10.60 and $7.80. He's now won twice in three races and earned $94,000. He broke his maiden at the King Glorious distance on turf in his debut Oct. 17 at Santa Anita.

“I thought it was great,'' said O'Neill assistant Stephanie Murray. “He showed a lot of heart. He was very gutsy, couldn't have asked for him to do anymore. We just wanted to play the break and see how the race unfolded.

“It was kind of his (Gutierrez) decision from the get go, so I think Mario gets all the credit.''

Moving Fast, who drew into the race from the also eligible list after the scratch of Positivity (he ran in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity Saturday), rallied after breaking last in the field of 10 to outfinish 15-1 shot Club Cal by a half-length. He paid $11 and $7.20 after his initial race in blinkers while the show price on Club Cal, a four-length maiden winner two weeks earlier in his Los Alamitos debut, was $5.80.

Mister Bold, the 19-10 favorite and the pacesetter, wound up fourth, a nose in front of 2-1 second choice Good With People. Tacoflavoredkisses, From the Get Go, Ascot Storm, Wedding Groom and Govenor's Party completed the order of finish.

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Spielberg Gives Baffert Seventh Consecutive Victory In Los Alamitos Futurity

Trainer Bob Baffert ran his winning streak to seven in the Los Alamitos Futurity on Saturday, but it wasn't easy.

Spielberg, a $1-million yearling purchase by Union Rags, needed every inch of the 1 1/16 miles of the Grade 2 race at the Cypress, Calif., track to catch the front-running 30-1 long shot The Great One, but jockey Flavien Prat got him up in the final jump. The victory was the 13th in the Futurity for the Hall of Fame trainer since Real Quiet won in 1997, when the race was run at Hollywood Park. The Inglewood, Calif., track ran its last race in 2013 and is now the site of an NFL football stadium.

Spielberg ran the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.56. The Great One held second, with Petruchio a distant third and 4-5 favorite Red Flag fourth in the field of six 2-year-old colts and geldings.

Spielberg paid $5.80 as the second choice in the wagering.

In addition to the $120,000 earned for the win, Spielberg earns 10 qualifying points for the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The second- through fourth-place finishers get 4, 2, and 1 point, respectively. None of the six starters raced on Lasix, a new requirement set by Churchill Downs for horses to be eligible for Derby points.

Updated Kentucky Derby points leaderboard.

Spielberg is owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm LLC and Robert Masterson. Out of the Smart Strike mare Miss Squeal, Spielberg was bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and purchased at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the consignment of Lane's End, which stands Union Rags.

The Great One, a Nyquist colt who came into the Futurity winless in three starts, went straight to the lead under Abel Cedillo and carved out fractions of :23.01 for the opening quarter mile, :47.76 for the half, and 1:10.66 for six furlongs. Red Flag raced along the rail as Weston chased the front runner from in between horses, and Spielberg was kept clear on the outside.

Into the far turn, Red Flag failed to enter contention as Spielberg began to make his bid and Weston, who was making his first start around two turns, faltered.

The Great One clung to the lead into the long Los Alamitos stretch, passing the mile marker in 1:35.81 and still in front. But Spielberg was eating into the margin as The Great One began to shorten stride and was just up in a desperate finish.

The victory was the second in six starts for Spielberg, who ran second to Dr. Schivel twice at Del Mar in an Aug. 8 maiden race and the Sept. 7 G1 Del Mar Futurity. He was still a maiden when third behind Get Her Number at Santa Anita in the G1 American Pharoah Stakes on Sept. 26, then defeated maidens at Del Mar Nov. 2, edging the highly regarded Parnelli by a neck. He came out of a fourth-place finish Nov. 15 going seven furlongs at Del Mar in the G3 Bob Hope Stakes. Red Flag won by 7 1/4 lengths for trainer John Shirreffs.

“I'd never ridden him before, but (trainer) Bob (Baffert) told me he was doing great,” said Prat. “The outside was a good draw for him. He broke well and was able to relax. I thought we had it all the way down the stretch but it was close.''

“That horse (runner-up The Great One) was tough to get by,” said Baffert. “We needed every bit of that stretch and we were fortunate to get there. I didn't know if I was going to run him here and I didn't decide until after he worked well this week (six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 Dec. 13 at Santa Anita). I knew he was going to run well because he had shipped well over here and he was really on it in the paddock. I'm just happy for everybody in the ownership group.

“Now we can start thinking (Kentucky) Derby,” Baffert continued. “It starts here for us. I thought it was an easy spot last time (fourth as the 3-5 favorite in the Bob Hope) and he didn't ship well. He got nervous when he got in the stall there and was just flat. We ran him back too quick. I asked Prat if there's more there and he said there's a lot more. I think he'll get better with maturity. He's a beautiful horse.''

Of Baffert's 13 winners of the Futurity, only Real Quiet, the 1997 winner, would go on to win the G1 Kentucky Derby.

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Spielberg Up to Give Baffert Seven Straight Futuritys at Los Al

After 8 1/2 furlongs of Saturday’s GII Los Alamitos Futurity, it was a ‘Close Encounter’ with pacesetting outsider The Great One (Nyquist)–playing ‘Catch Me If You Can’–but $1-million Keeneland September yearling purchase Spielberg (Union Rags) managed to snatch victory from the ‘Jaws’ of defeat, as he was the recipient of the kindest of headbobs to give Bob Baffert his seventh consecutive victory in the event, now held at the Orange County oval.

Drawn widest in a field of six, the second betting choice attended the pace three wide outside of GII Best Pal S. hero Weston (Hit It a Bomb) as the maiden The Great One made play from the fence. The front-runner hit the three-eighths going great guns and took them into the stretch, daring them to catch him. Spielberg emerged as the lone chance to do so as favored Red King (Tamarkuz), impressive in romping in the GIII Bob Hope S. last time out, began to paddle at midstretch. The Great One kicked on gamely into the final sixteenth of a mile, but the blaze-faced Spielberg dug in resolutely and dove home just in front. The win was the 14th overall in the race formerly known as the Hollywood and then CashCall Futurity and the winner represents a seventh different ownership group in the seven years the race has taken place at Los Al.

Second in the Sept. 7 GI Del Mar Futurity and third in the Sept. 26 GI American Pharoah S. as a maiden, Spielberg was more workmanlike than brilliant in graduating by a neck going a mile at Del Mar Nov. 1 and he was exiting a fourth, beaten 9 1/2 lengths, when last seen in the Bob Hope Nov. 15.

“I knew he was going to run well because he had shipped well over here and was really on it in the paddock,” said Baffert. “I thought it was an easy spot last time and he didn’t ship well. He got nervous when he got in the stall there [Del Mar] and was just flat. We ran him back too quick. I asked [jockey Flavien Prat] if there’s more there and he said there’s a lot more. I think he’ll get better with maturity.”

Pedigree Notes:

Spielberg becomes the 16th black-type winner and ninth at the graded level for Union Rags and is bred like his sire’s Grade I winner Union Strike. The winner’s dam is a daughter of SP Miss Kate (Storm Cat)-the cross of Union Rags over the late Overbrook sire is responsible for another two of Union Rags’s GISWs-also the dam of the SWs Outplay (Bernardini), Raconteur (A.P. Indy) and Katerbug (Pulpit). Spielberg’s dual Grade I-winning third dam produced Clear Mandate (Deputy Minister), herself a three-time winner at the highest level and dam of MGSW/MGISP Newfoundland (Storm Cat), GISW Strong Mandate (Tiznow) and SW Full Mandate (A.P. Indy). Miss Squeal is the dam of a yearling filly by Honor Code, a weanling filly by Bernardini and was most recently bred to City of Light.

Saturday, Los Alamitos
LOS ALAMITOS FUTURITY-GII, $200,500, Los Alamitos, 12-19, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:42.56, ft.
1–SPIELBERG, 120, c, 2, by Union Rags
1st Dam: Miss Squeal, by Smart Strike
2nd Dam: Miss Kate, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Dream Deal, by Sharpen Up (GB)
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($1,000,000
Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket
Stables LLC, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm LLC & Robert E.
Masterson; B-G. Watts Humphrey (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien
Prat. $120,000. Lifetime Record: MGISP, 6-2-2-1, $257,200.
Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–The Great One, 120, c, 2, Nyquist–Little Ms Protocol, by El
Corredor. ($125,000 Ylg ’19 OBSOCT; $185,000 2yo ’20
OBSOPN). O-ERJ Racing, LLC, Train Wreck Al Racing Stables,
Niall J. Brennan, Tom Fritz & William Strauss; B-Coteau Grove
Farms (LA); T-Doug F. O’Neill. $40,000.
3–Petruchio, 120, g, 2, Into Mischief–Satirical, by Distorted
Humor. O-Perry R. Bass II & Ramona S. Bass; B-Bass Stables,
LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $24,000.
Margins: NO, 3HF, 5. Odds: 1.90, 33.60, 6.00.
Also Ran: Red Flag, Weston, Positivity.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Six Winning Tickets Worth $228,816 Each In Los Alamitos Pick 6

Chasing a Pick 6 carryover that had reached $423,178 Friday at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif., bettors wagered $1,809,485 for a record total pool of $2,232,663.

Since daytime thoroughbred racing returned to Los Alamitos in July 2014, the previous high Pick 6 pool – including carryover – was $1,558,329 Dec. 17, 2016.

Six tickets able to isolate the half-dozen winners in the sequence were rewarded with a Los Alamitos daytime record payoff of $228,816.40. The previous mark was $110,732.80 Dec. 4, 2014.

The three biggest upsets were provided by Castle Gate, who returned $20.60 taking the opening leg, Single Me Out ($20.40) for his come-from-behind win in the eighth and D K's Crown, who paid $22 in capturing the sixth race.

The lone winning favorite was Empire Way, who rolled to an easy score as the 9-10 choice in the fifth. Princess Tale, the other winner in the Pick Six, paid $9.20 rallying from last in the afternoon's final race.

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