Liberty Coin Wins by Nose at Los Alamitos

Heavily favored Liberty Coin overcame a stumbling incident at the start to beat longshot Griswold in the $324,000 Denim N Diamonds Futurity at Los Alamitos Race Course Saturday night.

With jockey Steve Treasure up, Liberty Coin accelerated past the gap and nipped 16-1 outsider Griswold by a nose at the finish.

Liberty Coin picked up his third victory in four starts and earned first prize of $123,120 in the 400-yard dash timed in 20.04 seconds.

Another longshot, Sagesensation, held on for the show in the field of 10 3-year olds, only a nose behind Griswold.

Liberty Coin, trained by Bob Gilbert, paid $4.20, $3.20 and $3.20 after going off at 1-1. Griswold paid $11 and $12 and Sagesensation paid $14.20.

Liberty Coin, a lightly raced Hempen gelding, didn’t make his first start until early July, hitting the temporary railing and unseating his rider. Since then, he has been unbeatable.