TRAINER Tim Yakteen surprised a trio of two-year-olds trained by his former boss, Bob Baffert, when his Practical Move defeated Baffert-trained Carmel Road in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity as the 2/5 favourite Arabian Lion failed to fire, finishing fifth and last.

Practical Move, a son of Practical Joke, was the 10/1 fourth choice in the five-horse field for the in the eight-and-a-half-furlong race at Los Alamitos.

Carmel Road had won his maiden at Del Mar, went to the lead again in the Futurity as Arabian Lion sat in second on the outside of his stablemate.

Then Ramon Vazquez put Practical Move into third on the rail for an ideal stalking trip.

“He relaxed perfectly,” Vazquez said. “I had to make a decision turning for home whether to go inside or outside.

“When the leader drifted out a bit, there was an opening. He came right through and gave me a very nice finish.”

Practical Move collared Carmel Road with a quarter-mile to go over the long stretch at Los Alamitos, to score by three and a quarter lengths. Third-place Fort Bragg was over four back in third. It was Practical Move’s first win in four starts.

“The horse got himself in a great position, and Ramon did a great job,” Yakteen said. “It was just a matter of whether we were going to be able to get the distance today or not.”

Owing to Churchill Downs Inc.’s suspension of trainer Bob Baffert from racing at CDI tracks, Practical Move and Tall Boy were the only two horses eligible for points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Practical Move earned 10 qualifying points.

Yakteen trains Practical Move for Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr., Leslie Amestoy, and Roger Beasley. The owners purchased the colt for $230,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training earlier this year.

Unbeaten Dolce More claims impressive Futurity victory

Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (Group 1)

THE favourite Dolce More dominated this year’s two-year-old championship race, the Group 1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, remaining unbeaten on his third career start. This victory was trainer Naosuke Sugai’s 15th JRA-Group 1 win, he also trained Sodashi for top-level wins this year, while it was only jockey Ryusei Sakai’s second JRA-Group 1 win and follows Stunning Rose in the Shuka Sho in October.

Dolce More was eased back to third and saved ground behind All Parfait and Granite. Coming into the straight still behind the pacesetter, the Rulership colt, out of 2013 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) victor Ayusan, was moved off the rails and took over the lead after the furlong marker, holding off a strong challenge from the second favourite Danon Touchdown to prevail by a neck.

“It all went as planned with the trainer, just as I had pictured. I expected the pace to be fast since there were runners coming off short-distanced races. My colt ran in a good position and responded and held on well. I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to ride him today,” commented Ryusei Sakai to JRA reporters after the race.

Overtake

Danon Touchdown switched to the outside at the top of the stretch, then launched the fastest late run to overtake Labeling around 50 meters out but failed to make up ground to reach the winner.

In his second career start, the British-bred Frankel colt Labeling moved up in the backstretch, kicked into gear in the straight and chased the eventual winner to the wire while caught by Danon Touchdown in the final strides for a neck third.