Trainer Bob Baffert won his record 10th CashCall Futurity with McKinzie on Saturday. (Photo credit: Breeders’ Cup Ltd.)
Saturday’s Grade 1 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity was anything but predictable as Solomini finished ahead of the pack, but was later disqualified for causing interference. Finishing three-quarters of a length in front of his stablemate McKinzie, Solomini appeared to drift in on the final sixteenth, bumping with Instilled Regard and McKinzie.
The race was immediately reviewed by the race stewards and after eight minutes of indecision, they voted 2-1 to disqualify Solomini, placing him third behind Instilled Regard and McKinzie who was promoted to first place. The decision to disqualify Solomini came as a surprise to jockey Flavien Prat who said he didn’t think the horse came in at all.
Solomini Disqualified from Win
Trainer Bob Baffert who trains both McKinzie and Solomini was also taken aback, saying that he didn’t think any of the other horses came in bad in the end. He didn’t expect there to be a change after the race. He said it was too bad they took him down, he believed that Solomini was the better horse on the day and deserved the win.
It wasn’t all bad for Baffert though, still picked up a record win with McKinzie and then later went on to win the Starlet Stakes with Dream Tree. As for McKinzie, he was not present in the winner’s circle after the disqualification was announced. Jockey Mike Smith quickly unsaddled the horse and took him back to the barn. Whether he believed it was an undue win, it is hard to say?
Sitting at odds of $3, McKinzie sat four wide on the first turn, then closed the gap coming in three wide on the second. In the final stretch, McKinzie found his way to the front but was unable to maintain the advantage, giving way to Solomini who had more in the tank. The $300,000 CashCall Futurity was McKinzie’s second start after winning the Santa Anita by seven furlongs two months ago. Jockey Mike Smith said that he got a bit tired but he will move forward.
Baffert Cleans up
Racing for Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson, McKinzie is named after the late Brad McKinzie who was an executive at Los Alamitos. McKinzie’s trainer Bob Baffert and the owner were close friends. Purchased for $170,000 in 2016 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, McKinzie has earned $210,000 and looks to be going strong. He gave Baffert a record tenth win in the Futurity. Baffert won six times when the race was known as the Hollywood Futurity and followed it up with four consecutive wins at Los Alamitos, pleasing many punters who had enjoyed a bit of the online betting NZ has to offer.
As for Solomini, he came second in the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes in late September and followed it up with another second-place finish at the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November. Instilled Regard won his maiden race at Santa Anity in October before making his stakes debut in the Los Alamitos Futurity. For Him, came home in fourth after starting at 62-1 odds. The small field was rounded off with Runaway Ghost who came home in fifth.
