Maximum Security pointing toward San Diego Handicap

Maximum Security, the champion 3-year-old male of 2019, will have his first start of the summer in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 18 at Del Mar, trainer Bob Baffert said Friday.

The $150,000 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles will be Maximum Security’s first race since a win in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“He looks fantastic,” Baffert said.

Maximum Security is scheduled to work at Santa Anita this weekend. The San Diego Handicap is a prep for Del Mar’s leading race, the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 22.

Maximum Security is well known for being disqualified from first to 17th in the 2019 Kentucky Derby after causing interference on the turn. Maximum Security, owned by Gary and Mary West and the Coolmore partnership, has won his last four starts, including the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in December.

Maximum Security joined Baffert’s stable in the spring after previous trainer Jason Servis was part of a group of trainers arrested and indicted in March on charges of administering illegal substances to horses.

Stakes next stop for Cezanne

Cezanne, a $3.65 million purchase as a 2-year-old in 2019, is expected to have his next start in an undetermined stakes after winning his first start around two turns in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at a mile Thursday at Los Alamitos.

Cezanne is unbeaten in two starts, having also won a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs on

June 6 at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Flavien Prat, Cezanne ($2.20) stalked pacesetter Bronn to the turn and took the lead in early stretch. Prat gave Cezanne a few reminders with his whip in the final furlong.

Cezanne won by 1 3/4 lengths over 30-1 Mongolian Legend, finishing a mile in 1:35.99. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 85, compared to his figure of 90 from his maiden race win.

“I think it was a good race for him,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “It was workmanlike. We’re learning more about him. We know he’s a good horse.

“We’ll get him to Del Mar and see how he trains. That will move him up.”

By Curlin, Cezanne races for the Coolmore partnership and St. Elias Stable.

Los Al eyes September dates

Los Alamitos concludes its two-week daytime summer meeting for Thoroughbreds with an eight-race program Sunday, but it is not clear when the track will resume daytime Thoroughbred racing.

Los Alamitos is scheduled to hold a three-week meeting from Dec. 4-20, but may ask the racing board to run a brief season in September, pending actions by Santa Anita. Los Alamitos officials have sent letters to the California Horse Racing Board in the last week expressing an interest in racing.

Last year, Santa Anita was awarded racing dates from Sept. 9 to Oct. 25 by the racing board, but track officials said last month that the start of that meeting could be delayed to Sept. 18 or Sept. 25 to allow a gap following the end of the Del Mar summer meeting on Sept. 7. Del Mar opens its meeting July 10.

The racing board is expected to hear Santa Anita’s application for a fall meeting at its monthly meeting on Aug. 20. The subject has been delayed from the racing board’s July meeting to give Santa Anita more time to finalize scheduling, according to Scott Chaney, the racing board’s executive director.

Chaney said Friday that conversations between track officials in coming weeks could lead to a resolution.

“For the most part, it depends on Santa Anita and what they want to do and then presenting that to the board,” Chaney said Friday. “To give both parties a little more time, we put it off until August.”

An August decision creates a rapid turnaround before Los Alamitos would race in September.

“It will be very tight,” Chaney said. “You would hope there would be some discussion before then and the parties would have some idea where we’re headed.”

Chaney said the racing board has a provision to call a 48-hour emergency meeting to discuss applications for racing dates, if needed.

From 2014 through last year, Los Alamitos ran the Los Angeles County Fair dates in September, following the Del Mar summer meeting and prior to the start of the Santa Anita autumn meeting. Last year, the racing board rearranged the calendar and moved the county fair portion of the Los Alamitos dates to December.

Currently, Los Alamitos is scheduled to have five weeks of daytime Thoroughbred racing this year compared to eight from 2014-19. The track continues to run an evening meeting of Quarter Horses and lowerlevel Thoroughbreds.

Sharon Alesia dies at 83

Sharon Alesia, who co-owned such stakes winners as Ashleyluvsugar,

Champagne Room, Dance With Fate, and Weemissfrankie in the last decade, died June 15 in Carlsbad, Calif., after an illness, according to her business manager, Howard Grossman.

Alesia was 83.

Alesia and her late husband Frank owned horses since the mid-1980s, always with trainer Peter Eurton. Sharon Alesia, who often owned horses in small partnerships, maintained the stable after Frank Alesia’s death in 2011.

The stable frequently had a leading runner at Southern California tracks in recent years. Weemissfrankie won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes prior to finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs in 2011.

Dance With Fate won the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in 2014 and was later sixth in the Kentucky Derby behind California Chrome. Champagne Room won the BC Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in 2016.

Ashleyluvssugar, a six-time stakes winner, won 10 of 38 starts and earned $1,488,083 racing from 2013 to March of this year.

The Alesias began their involvement in racing in 1984, when Sharon bought her husband a horse as an anniversary present. Frank Alesia was a stand-up comedian and actor who later directed episodes of the children’s program “Captain Kangaroo.”

“Sharon loved racing for the social elements, picking horses’ names, and watching Pete Eurton win,” Grossman said.

Services were recently held for immediate family, Grossman said.