From the Los Alamitos Media Team:

FAVORED LITMUS TEST PROVIDES BAFFERT WITH NINTH LOS ALAMITOS FUTURITY WIN;

BLACKSMITH AND PROVENANCE GIVE HALL OF FAME TRAINER TRIFECTA SWEEP

Heavily-favored Litmus Test provided Bob Baffert with yet another victory in the Grade II, $200,500 Los Alamitos Futurity Saturday.

Not only did the 2-year-old Nyquist colt give the Hall of Fame trainer his ninth win in the race since daytime racing began in Orange County in 2014, Baffert also completed the trifecta with his other two entrants. The maiden Blacksmith was second and Provenance wound up third after setting the pace for most of the journey.

Making his first start since finishing fourth -beaten less than two lengths by the undefeated Ted Noffey – in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Oct. 31, Litmus Test, the 3-5 choice, saved ground while never far off the pace, relaxed well under jockey Juan Hernandez, took a short lead with about a quarter of a mile to run and went on to prevail by 1 1/4 lengths.

Owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Diane Bashor, Determined Stables, Golconda Stables, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan, Litmus Test completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.38.

His second win in five starts pushed his bankroll to $350,168. He paid $3.20 and $2.20. There was no show wagering.

The 4-1 second choice, Blacksmith returned $3.60 to place while finishing 3 ½ lengths clear of 6-1 shot Provenace. Acknowledgemeplz, American King and Captivator completed the order of finish.

This was the seventh time at Los Alamitos Baffert has won both the Starlet and Los Alamitos Futurity in the same year. He collaborated with jockey Kazushi Kimura a week earlier to win the Starlet for a ninth year in a row.

His other Starlet-Futurity doubles include Dream Tree and McKinzie (2017), Chasing Yesterday-Improbable (2018), Bast-Thousand Words (2019), Varda-Spielberg (2020) and Nothing Like You-Wynstock (2023).

Baffert believes the best is yet to come for Litmus Test.

“He’s getting better and the way he’s bred he’s going to get better with age,’’ said Baffert, who also won the Hollywood Futurity – which was offered at Hollywood Park between 1981-2013) – six times. He’s a horse we’ve always been very high on.

“Down the backside today he looked like he was traveling easy. (Hernandez) loves his stride and he thinks the farther the better for him.

“I cut his blinkers back just a tad because he was looking around a little bit. You’re trying to figure these horses out as to what their style is or the way they want to run, but there’s nothing like a race.

“Blacksmith is figuring it out. He ran a big race.’’

This was the first Los Alamitos Futurity win for Hernandez, who added to his record total with his 26th local stakes success.

“He broke a step slow, but he relaxed nicely and we were able to save ground,’’ said Hernandez. “I felt confident tracking (Provenance) because he was going so easy.

“He was looking around a little bit in the stretch, but once he switched leads he finished strongly.’’

Racing resumes Sunday at Los Alamitos. Post time for the final day of the Winter Thoroughbred meet is 12 Noon.

The last of 10 races is the $100,000 King Glorious for 2-year-olds bred or sired in California. Can’t Help Myself is the 2-1 favorite on Ed Burgart’s morning line in the contest at one mile.