Bob Baffert has three of the five horses in Saturday’s $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby for 3-year-olds, with Nevada Beach (Juan Hernandez riding), Tiz Secure (Drayden Van Dyke) and Varney (Hector Berrios) trying to give the trainer his ninth consecutive win and 15th overall in the race known as the Swaps Stakes in its Hollywood Park days. They face Doug O’Neill’s Rank (Kazushi Kimura) and Antonio Garcia’s It’s a Factor (Antonio Ayuso). The quintet is 0 for 6 in previous tries at the stakes level.

Seven of the top 20 horses in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association rankings run in two stakes at Churchill Downs on Saturday. The Grade II Fleur de Lis for fillies and mares could be pivotal for defending Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Brian Hernandez Jr.) after her clunker in the La Troienne. The Grade I Stephen Foster matches 3-year-old champion Sierra Leone (Flavien Prat), 2024 Kentucky Derby king Mystik Dan (Brian Hernandez Jr.), stretching-out Mindframe (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Dubai World Cup upsetter Hit Show (Florent Geroux), Hollywood Gold Cup winner Skippylongstocking (Jose Ortiz), improved First Mission (Luis Saez) and formerly D. Wayne Lukas-trained long shot Ashcroft (Julien Leparoux).

— Kevin Modesti