Practical Move wins Los Alamitos Futurity

Tim Yakteen beat his former boss in Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity, depriving trainer Bob Baffert of his 14th victory in the race for 2-year-olds, and in the process watched Practical Move take a big step forward in his development.

The Practical Joke colt had never crossed the wire first, breaking his maiden on Oct. 10 at Santa Anita via disqualification. He came into the race off a third-place finish in the Grade III Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 20, but found the extra distance of the Futurity to his liking.

Third up the backside, Practical Move, ridden by Ramon Vazquez, took the lead at the head of the stretch and drew away to beat one of Baffert’s three entrants in the race, Carmel Road, by 3 1/4 lengths in an impressive 1:41.65 for the 1 1/16 miles. Baffert’s other two colts, Fort Bragg and 2-5 favorite Arabian Lion, finished third and fifth, respectively, in the short five-horse field.

Practical Move, sent postward at 10-1, had finished in the money in all four of his career starts before Saturday and increased his earnings to $194,200 with the winner’s check of $120,000.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been on this horse and he really impressed me,” said Vazquez, who enjoyed a four-win day. “He relaxed perfectly and then I had to make a decision turning for home whether to go inside or outside. When the leader (Carmel Road) drifted out a bit there was an opening. He came right through and gave me a very nice finish.”

Practical Move took advantage of Fort Bragg’s DQ to win in his third start, but had finished behind Baffert colts Havnameltdown (Bob Hope), National Treasure and Cave Rock in his other three outings.

Yakteen, who had two stints as a Baffert assistant (1988-91 and 1997-2004) and was the late Charlie Whittingham’s right-hand man (1991-97), took the blinkers off Practical Move for the Futurity and it seemed to pay off. It was the first time he ran without blinkers.

“He’s been steadily improving race after race,” Yakteen said. “I’m definitely hoping that he’s going to continue to get better as a 3-year-old and that’s the impression he has been giving me.”

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Yakteen said the victory was more special because he’s still good friends with Baffert.

“We have a great relationship,” he said. “I hate to take him down, but it ended up that I got the better of him today and he usually gets the better of me.”

Baffert had won the Futurity in seven of the eight years it’s been run at Los Alamitos after Hollywood Park closed in 2013.

“I’m surprised because we were going up against the king (Baffert), but I’m not surprised because my horse was doing really well,” Yakteen said. “That it all worked out is just fantastic. We had a great trip and I’m just thrilled to death with the horse and his effort today.”

Judging by the way Practical Move ran Saturday, there figures to be more matchups against the Baffert brigade in the spring.