The only thing that stopped trainer Bob Baffert from sweeping Saturday's Pick 6 at Los Alamitos was lack of an entry in the finale for maiden claimers.
You won't find too many of those, if any, in the Hall of Famer's barn, which also explains how he won Races 4-8 in historic fashion at the southern California oval.
According to Los Alamitos publicity, Baffert became the first trainer to have a five-win afternoon there since daytime thoroughbred racing returned in 2014.
“I thought all five of these horses were live, but usually that means you’re lucky if you win one,’’ Baffert said. “You never know. It worked out well.’’
Previously at Los Al, trainer Doug O’Neill tripled on Sept. 23, 2017, and Mark Glatt completed a hat trick twice, on April 28, 2016, and again on Sept. 14 of this year.
In Race 4, Baffert's unprecedented roll began when he sent out 2-year-old Thousand Words for his second career race in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). His victory marked a sixth straight victory in that stakes, as Baffert has won each edition since it moved from Hollywood Park.
Speed Pass took Race 5, an allowance optional claiming event for 3-year-olds, and Message coasted to a nine-length win in Race 6, another allowance event, this one for fillies.
Race 7, the Starlet Stakes (G1), was won by Bast to give Baffert a third straight sweep of the Futurity and Starlet in the same season.
After the 2-year-old Ra'ad won Race 8, a maiden special weight race, Baffert made some personal history, too.
He told TVG's Christina Blacker that five wins on the same thoroughbred card are unprecedented for him. Going back to Arizona's Prescott Downs and his quarter horse days, however, Baffert remembered five trial victories on the same card in the early 1980s.
"One of them belonged to my dad, and I owned one of them, too," Baffert said. "It was a fun day that day."
