CYPRESS, Calif. — Bob Baffert is the most successful trainer at the Los Alamitos Futurity in Cypress’ Los Alamitos Race Course. He’s won 13 races as a trainer from 1997 to 2020. He also trained seven consecutive race winners from 2014 to 2020.

But his seven-year streak came to an end on Dec. 11, as his trained horses Messier and Barossa finished in second and third place in the 2021 edition of the Los Alamitos Futurity. The horses were upset by Slow Down Andy, a horse with 5-1 odds at post time.

The race proved to be a very close one.

“Down the stretch it looked like we had it, and then we didn’t, and then we did,” Slow Down Andy trainer Doug O’Neill said to BloodHorse about how his horse performed. “It was very exciting.”

O’Neill’s horse started in last place among the five horses running in the 1-mile-1/16 race. He started to catch up midway through, as leader Olympic Legend surrendered the lead after about half a mile. Olympic Legend dropped far back in a turn and became fatigued, eventually being eased to the wire where he was walked off.

Messier took the lead, but Slow Down Andy caught up in the upper stretch. He took the lead and battled with Messier around that point, but Andy got one length ahead at the finish.

“I think he was just playing around in the stretch,” Slow Down Andy jockey Mario Gutierrez said to BloodHorse. “When Messier got back in front of him, he regained his focus and showed his heart.”

Reddam Racing, the owner of Slow Down Andy, won $180,000 in this Grade II race. The total is a majority of the $300,000 purse for the event. Messier brought in $60,000, while Barossa got $36,000 for third place. Durante earned $18,000 for fourth place and Olympic Legend brought in $6,000.

Betters at the track in Cypress and elsewhere earned $12.40 on a $2 win bet. A $1 exacta paid $12.90, while a $1 trifecta was worth $21.20.

The racer took 1:42.33. The horses were the fastest at the start, although the track at Los Alamitos was fast for the day.

The Los Alamitos Futurity is considered a preparatory race for future competitions. Six of the horses who have started the event since its introduction in 1981 have won the Kentucky Derby, with 2005 winner Giacomo being the most recent one. Alysheba finished in second place in the 1986 edition of the Futurity, but he won the 1987 Kentucky Derby and was named the U.S. Champion three-year-old Male Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards.

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