Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
West Coast hitting best stride entering Los Alamitos Derby
CYPRESS, Calif. – As recently as April, trainer Bob Baffert was unsatisfied with the progress of West Coast, the favorite for Saturday’s Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby.
West Coast was being considered for the Santa Anita Derby on April 8 but was held out of the race after an unsatisfactory workout. A week later, West Coast was second by a head in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. He has not lost since. West Coast won an optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on May 20 and his first stakes in the Easy Goer at 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park on June 10.
“He’s been slowly maturing and starting to change,” Baffert said. “He’s the kind of horse that’s better as he calms down. I think he’ll be a horse that gets better with age.”
West Coast is part of a field of eight in the $200,000 Los Alamitos Derby, which is run at 1 1/8 miles. The Los Alamitos Derby is the main race on the final weekend of the track’s two-week summer meeting, which ends on Sunday. Del Mar opens its summer meeting on Wednesday.
The Los Alamitos Derby drew five stakes winners, including B Squared, who won the Silky Sullivan Stakes for Californiabred 3-year-old turf milers in April; Cistron, the winner of the $150,000 Northern Spur at 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park in April; Klimt, who won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September but has not started this year; and Term of Art, who won the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at Del Mar last year.
Term of Art was 10th in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20 and third of four in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 24. Term of Art is the only runner in the Los Alamitos Derby who ran in a Triple Crown race.
KEY CONTENDERS
West Coast, by Flatter Last 3 Beyers: 99-89-89
◗ Owned by Gary and Mary West, West Coast has won three times at 1 1/16 miles, and the Los Alamitos Derby will be the longest race of his career.
◗ Baffert envisions West Coast having a trip similar to the one he had in the Easy Goer Stakes, in which jockey Mike Smith had the colt toward the back of the field through the first half-mile.
“I think he wants to break and settle and pick it up as he goes along,” Baffert said. “If he can show me that, he can move on to the Grade 1’s going long.
“This will be an important race for him. We’ll know more about him.”
This will be the first time Drayden Van Dyke has ridden West Coast. Smith is out of town to ride Songbird in Saturday’s Delaware Handicap.
Cistron, by The Factor Last 3 Beyers: 84-90-85
◗ Cistron led throughout the Northern Spur but closed from sixth to finish second to the unbeaten Arms Runner in the Desert Code Stakes for 3-yearold turf sprinters at Santa Anita on May 13. Cistron has run well on turf and dirt, in sprints and around two turns, giving trainer John Sadler hope that the colt can be effective in the longest race of his career. “He showed he can do several things,” Sadler said.
Colonist, by Pioneerof the Nile Last 3 Beyers: 89-86-85
◗ Colonist won a maiden race at a mile and an optional claimer for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in April before finishing fifth as the favorite in an optional claimer against older horses on May 21.
◗ The Los Alamitos Derby will be the stakes debut for Colonist, who is likely to race as a stalker.