A measure of High Connection’s first stakes win in Saturday’s $125,000 Los Alamitos Derby will not be known for several months. High Connection ran in a stakes for the second time in the Los Alamitos Derby, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a record seventh win in the race in the nine years since it was moved from Hollywood Park in 2014. While the Baffert-trained winners Gimme Da Lute (2015) and West Coast (2017) went on to win stakes, Once On Whiskey (2018), Game Winner (2019) Uncle Chuck (2020), and Classier (2021) either never raced after the Los Alamitos Derby or never won. West Coast was by far the most successful of those runners. After the Los Alamitos Derby, West Coast won the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga in his next start. West Coast was the champion 3-year-old male of 2017 and was second in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup and the $10 million Dubai World Cup the following year. Understandably, Baffert was enthusiastic on Sunday about High Connection’s future. A colt by the Curlin stallion Connect, High Connection has won 2 of 4 starts. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! “He’s getting better and better,” Baffert said. “He was really impressive when he broke his maiden. “He got a lot out of this race.” Owned by Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud, High Connection won his debut at Santa Anita on March 26. A week later, Baffert began a 90-day suspension for a medication positive found in a post-race test taken from Medina Spirit after a first-place finish in the 2021 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. The suspension ended on July 3. High Connection was a well-beaten second to Hopper in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 11. At the time, Hopper and High Connection were trained by Sean McCarthy. High Connection worked six furlongs on July 3, leaving Baffert impressed. “I hadn’t seen him a while,” he said. “He worked well.” On Sunday, Baffert did not specify any race plans for High Connection. At the upcoming Del Mar summer meeting that begins on July 22, the leading race for 3-year-olds on dirt is the $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes at a mile on Sept. 3. The stable has Taiba as a candidate for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 23. Taiba, the winner of the Santa Anita Derby in April when briefly trained by Tim Yakteen, has not started since he finished 12th in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7, but has been working regularly in recent weeks. “Taiba, it looks like he’s doing well,” Baffert said. The Haskell field may include the Baffert-trained Pinehurst, who won the Saudi Derby in Saudi Arabia in February, but was last of 16 in the Group 2 United Arab Emirates Derby in Dubai on March 26. Pinehurst resumed workouts in early May and worked six furlongs in 1:13.20 at Santa Anita on Sunday. In the Los Alamitos Derby, High Connection was always near the front along with Slow Down Andy, the winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity last December. High Connection had a narrow lead in the stretch when Slow Down Andy drifted to the inside, losing momentum. High Connection won the race at 1 1/8 miles by 1 3/4 lengths over Slow Down Andy. Slow Down Andy made a similar move in the stretch of Los Alamitos Futurity, but won by a length. “That’s the second time he’s done that at Los Al,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “The long stretch seems to be a little bit of a challenge for him.” The Los Alamitos Derby was Slow Down Andy’s first start since a win in the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico on March 27. Owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam, Slow Down Andy missed the Kentucky Derby because of illness. “All credit to Paul and Zillah for the amount of patience it took to get him back from the race in New Mexico,” O’Neill said. “It took three or four weeks. He got really sick. We were grateful he got back to the races.” O’Neill’s next stakes runner in Southern California is Mackinnon in the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf at Del Mar on July 22, opening day of that track’s summer meeting. A two-time stakes winner, Mackinnon was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last November. The colt has not raced since a second in the El Camino Real Derby on the synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields in February. Sunday at Santa Anita, Mackinnon worked six furlongs on the infield training track in 1:14.20. “We’re right on schedule,” O’Neill said. “We’re seeing a more mature version of him. Hopefully, he’s not rusty on opening day.” Mackinnon is co-owned by Erik Johnson, a defensemen for the Colorado Avalanche, who won the NHL’s Stanley Cup last month. Johnson named the colt after his teammate, Nathan MacKinnon.