ECLIPSE AWARD WINNER GAME WINNER HEADS FIELD IN LOS ALAMITOS DERBY

By Bob Mieszerski —-

CYPRESS, Calif. – Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old of 2018, will make his first start since an extremely wide journey in the Kentucky Derby in the $150,000-guaranteed Los Alamitos Derby Saturday.

Restricted to 3-year-olds and scheduled for 1 1/8 miles, the Grade III will go as the sixth of eight races. Post time Saturday is 1 p.m. Scheduled post time for the main event is 3:28 p.m.

In addition to the graded stakes race Saturday, the Los Alamitos Racing Association will also offer a cash prize and as many as four seats to the 2020 National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas with a live money contest.

Cost to enter the second Los Alamitos Summer Qualifier is $400. Of that amount, $100 will be placed in the contest prize pool with the remaining funds going towards a live-money wagering card.

Contestants must enter prior to 1 p.m. Saturday. Tournament races will include the entire card at Los Alamitos with permitted wagers including win, place, show, exactas, daily doubles and trifectas. Each entry must beat at least $60 on five races, but there is no wagering limit.

The player with the highest bankroll at the end of the day will be declared the winner and the player with the second highest will be the runner-up.

The winner will receive 50% of the prize pool, which will be capped at $10,000. The remaining payoffs: 20% (2nd place), 15% (3rd place), 7.5% (4th place) and 7.5% (most money wagered).

Owned by Gary and Mary West and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Game Winner was fifth – via the disqualification of Maximum Security – May 4 at Churchill Downs, his first off the board finish in seven starts.

A son of Candy Ride and the A.P. Indy mare Indyan Giving, Game Winner was 4-for-4 in 2018, completing his perfect year with a 2 ¼ length score in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last Nov. 2 in Louisville.

The victory over a dozen rivals was the third consecutive Grade I success for the $110,000 purchase at the Keeneland September sale in 2017. He won the Del Mar Futurity and the American Pharoah prior to the BC Juvenile. He’s earned $1,936,000.

The bay colt could follow the same path West Coast, the champion 3-year-old of 2017, did for the Wests and Baffert two years ago. The son of Flatter captured the Los Alamitos Derby about six weeks before taking the Grade I Travers at Saratoga.

Baffert, who has won the LA Derby the last two years and three of the last five, also entered Kingly.

A son of Tapit and the Dixie Union mare Justwhistledsixie, Kingly is 2-for-6 with earnings of $134,200. Owned by a partnership that includes Clearview Stables, RAC 04 Racing and Michael Meegan, Kingly was fifth in the Affirmed in his last start.

He has yet to win a graded stakes, but did prevail in the California Derby over the Tapeta surface at Golden Gate Fields as the 17-10 favorite April 27.

Trained by Hector Palma for owner-breeder BG Stables, Feeling Strong will be making his graded stakes debut in the Derby.

The Capital Account gelding out of the Choctaw Ridge mare Feel Ridge comes off a 2 ¾ length victory over older rivals in an optional claimer for California breds June 21.

He’s won two of 11 and earned $145,493. He was a distant third behind Galilean in the King Glorious Stakes last Dec. 16 in his most recent appearance at Los Alamitos.

A gray son of Dominus and the Lil E. Tee mare Lil Cora Tee, Parsimony was supplemented for $4,000 Wednesday morning by trainer Doug O’Neill for J.Paul Reddam’s Reddam Racing LLC.

A maiden after 12 starts, Parsimony switches to dirt after finishing third as the 3-2 favorite in his most recent race on turf June 22.

This isn’t the first time the Pennsylvania bred has tried graded company. He finished eighth of 10 in the Grade II Rebel March 16 at Oaklawn Park before trailing in the Grade II Blue Grass three weeks later at Keeneland. He’s earned $104,522.

From the inside out, the field for the 6th Los Alamitos Derby: Game Winner, Joel Rosario rides, 122 pounds; Feeling Strong, Tiago Pereira, 122; Kingly, Mario Gutierrez, 122 and Parsimony, Martin Garcia, 122.
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