CYPRESS — The milestones keep lining up for Bob Baffert, stretching across time and time zones.
Saturday at Los Alamitos, the 3-year-old filly Dainey and jockey Emisael Jaramillo won the $100,000 Becca Taylor Stakes, making Baffert the first trainer with 50 victories at the Orange County track’s daytime thoroughbred meets.
It wasn’t the biggest milestone of the month for the Hall of Fame trainer, whose victory with Hughes in the Sept. 6 Del Mar Futurity was his 20th in that race, the most by any trainer in a single Grade I stakes.
In fact, it wasn’t the richest milestone of the day for Baffert, seeing that Dainey’s win came a few hours after he won stakes at Churchill Downs with 2-year-old Salahudin (who paid $3.98) in the Iroquois, Splendora ($2.40) in the Locust Grove and Usha ($5.08) in the Open Mind. This appears to be his Baffert’s stakes triple at Churchill, where he has won a record-tying six Kentucky Derbies. An earlier triple there came off the books when Medina Spirit was disqualified from his 2021 Derby victory.
Mike Marlow, Baffert’s Los Alamitos-based assistant, laughed in wonder at the numbers his 73-year-old boss is accumulating.
“You don’t even realize it,” Marlowe said. “You’re doing the same things every day.”
Baffert’s 50 stakes at the Los Al thoroughbred meets, which include Orange County fairs from 1977 to 1991 and daytime meets since 2014, are 37 more than second-place John Sadler.
Dainey ($3.20) was almost as dominant Saturday. The daughter of Tiz the Law, a $110,000 yearling-auction purchase by Patti and Hal Earnhardt, was second to leader Billie Holiday midway through the 6-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies, closed in and took the lead at the top of Los Al’s long homestretch, and won at will by 2-1/4 lengths over 16-1 Kinzlee’scharisma. The time was 1:09.82.
Dainey was making only her second start, having not run since she won her debut at Santa Anita in May.
“She’s very professional,” Jaramillo said.
It was Jaramillo’s first stakes victory at Los Al.
Earlier in the card, jockey Justine Klaiber, leading quarter-horse jockey by wins at the Los Al night meet, won with her very first mount at the track’s thoroughbred meets, rallying Angie Aquino-trained Ebok’s Dream Girl ($16.40) to a claiming-level victory,
SHORTENING UP
• Baeza is one of six challengers for Forever Young in entries posted Saturday for the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup next Friday, reopening day at Belmont Park. Baeza was expected to run in the Goodwood Stakes Sept. 26 at Santa Anita, but plans changed after his Bill Mott-trained stablemate Sovereignty was knocked out of the Jockey Club race by a foot abscess.
• In the continent’s most anticipated race Saturday, Notable Speech ($3.40) and William Buick found room at the top of the stretch and caught Deterministic and Kendrick Carmouche to win the $1 million (Canadian) Woodbine Mile for the second time. A year ago, British-bred, Charles Appleby-trained Notable Speech used this as a springboard to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.
• Kazushi Kimura leads the Los Al jockey standings after one win Saturday, his fourth in the meet’s first two days. Next with two each are Tiago Pereira, Edgar Payeras, Kyle Frey and Abel Lezcano. The lone trainer with two wins is Genaro Vallejo, with Oobubbakakayo ($8) and Amor Secreto ($7.20) Saturday.