During Quarter Horse races at Los Alamitos, Dr. Ed Allred wins often as one of the nation’s leading Quarter Horse owners and breeders. It is rarer to see him win a Thoroughbred stakes at the track he has owned for years. But trainer Bob Baffert, who got his start at Los Alamitos in Quarter Horses, is always pleased when he can win for “Doc,” as he did with Wynstock in the Dec. 16 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2).
Baffert dominates the Los Alamitos Futurity, a race he has now won 14 times, both when it was the Hollywood Futurity at Hollywood Park and at Los Alamitos. He entered three 2-year-olds this year, winning with the longest shot of the three.
Coach Prime , a $1.7 million son of Quality Road and Baffert trainee, went off as the 4-5 favorite, with Baffert-trained, graded stakes-placed Wine Me Up the second choice at 19-10. Wynstock was the fourth choice of the five-horse field at 13-1.
When the gate opened in the 1 1/16-mile Futurity, the five runners broke together. Wine Me Up took a brief lead, but Wynstock surged to the front around the first turn and set all of the fractions, beginning with a quarter-mile time of :23.53.
Wynstock maintained a length advantage into the backstretch. Wine Me Up and Coach Prime began their runs in the second turn, while Stronghold also challenged from the rail. Into the stretch, however, the race came down to Wynstock and Stronghold.
Stronghold appeared to come out slightly, and the two brushed. Stronghold got the advantage, but then Wynstock wrested the lead back. They bumped again before Wynstock gamely pulled away to win by a half-length in 1:43.53. Stronghold had another half-length over third-place Coach Prime, who was followed by Wine Me Up and longshot Ace of Clubs .
The stewards posted the inquiry sign following the race because of the contact. However, they ruled that there would be no change, determining that both horses contributed to the incident.
Wynstock was coming off a 7 1/2-length, one-mile maiden win Oct. 15 at Santa Anita Park, a race he also won on the lead. In two efforts at 6 1/2 furlongs before that, he was unplaced while racing well off the pace and with trouble at the start. Jockey Kyle Frey rode Wynstock for the first time in his maiden victory and is 2-for-2 on the colt.
Trainer Bob Baffert celebrates with jockey Kyle Frey after Wynstock’s victory in the Los Alamitos Futurity at Los Alamitos Race Course
“When he gets in front, he has the heart of a lion,” Frey said.
Baffert said that he thought Wynstock would be on the lead as he was in his initial victory.
“I couldn’t believe he got beat twice going short before that because he had shown so much in the morning,” the trainer said. “Coming into the paddock today he looked outstanding. I’m just really happy for Doc—we go way back. To have this moment is special. He bought him and trusted me.”
Allred owns Wynstock in partnership with Jack Liebau, vice president of Los Alamitos and a longtime California racetrack executive. They purchased the colt for $700,000 at the 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s spring sale of 2-year-olds from the consignment of Caliente Thoroughbreds.
This was Baffert’s first win in the Futurity since 2020, when he completed a seven-race winning streak that began in 2014. He first won the race in 1997 with Real Quiet, and his other winners include Point Given in 2000.
The Los Alamitos Futurity is a qualifying points race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, with 10-5-3-2-1 points potentially available to its top five finishers. Baffert trainees are ineligible for points owing to Churchill Downs Inc.’s ongoing ban of the trainer.
Empire Equines bred Wynstock from the Flatter mare Timberlea , a half sister to graded winner Untrapped . Wynstock previously sold for $50,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale to Gerardo Barragan out of the Hidden Brook consignment.
Wynstock and Soloshot are 2023 stakes winners by Solomini , whose first foals are 2-year-olds. A multiple stakes-placed son of Curlin , Solomini ran second in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). He is standing for a 2024 stud fee of $7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds near Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
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