Practical Move Wins G2 Los Alamitos Futurity

Practical Move (2c Practical Joke x Ack Naughty, by Afleet Alex) became the third juvenile stakes winner of the year for his sire on Saturday with an impressive performance in the Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity.

Practical Move quickly went to challenge the early leader in the 1 1/16 mile dirt race before backing up to race a few lengths off that runner down the backstretch. Handled confidently by Ramon Vazquez, Practical Move sat chilly until they hit the top of the stretch and a hole opened up on the rail.

Down the stretch, he briefly battled with the longtime pacesetter before a few taps of the whip encouraged him to pull away. The margin grew to 3 1/4 lengths in the end with the third placed horse finishing 7 1/2 lengths behind Practical Move.

This is the second stakes attempt for Practical Move, who finished third in the Grade III Bob Hope Stakes for owners Pierre Jean and Leslie Amestoy and Roger Beasley.

Trained by Tim Yakteen, the Chad Brown and Head of Plains Partners-bred Practical Move was a $230,000 OBS April purchase by his racing owners from Eisaman Equine earlier this year.

Practical Move is the first foal out of multiple stakes placed Ack Naughty, a half-sister to stakes winners No Spin and So Lonesome. There are stakes winners under each of Practical Move’s first four dams with his stakes winning third done Hot Lear the dam of stakes winner Flaming Heart. Flaming Heart produced graded stakes winners Commissioner and Laugh Track in addition to the dam of champion Vino Rosso.

Practical Joke is the sire of seven juvenile stakes performers in 2022 with two of them earning blacktype at the Grade I level – the best of any North American sire. His juveniles are led by Grade I winner Chocolate Gelato, who is one of five Grade I winners and 10 Grade I performers worldwide for her sire.