Kentucky Derby 2019 Daily: 'Outside owners' key for Baffert
Welcome to Horse Racing Nation’s Kentucky Derby Daily, which will each day leading up to the May 4 race at Churchill Downs detail all the news and notes related to contenders in one convenient space.
As American Pharoah raced to a Triple Crown sweep back in 2015, trainer Bob Baffert suggested the feat — thought by some to be impossible in the modern era — would create renewed interest in pricey horses at auction. Years later, guess where those prospects are ending up on a consistent basis?
Baffert trains nine horses on our current 2019 Kentucky Derby contenders list, including the soon-to-be champion Game Winner, recent Grade 1 winner Improbable and Coliseum, the anticipated favorite for Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park.
“Through the years, I was buying my own horses,” Baffert said. “Whatever I bought that year, I was stuck with. Now, outside owners are sending me their horses like WinStar and China Horse Club. It makes it nice, but it took me 30 years to get to that level.”
The quarter horse convert developed a keen eye for selecting young horses when starting out. He had to somehow compete with the likes of Charlie Whittingham and D. Wayne Lukas. Now Baffert's combining that talent with his reputation as a two-time Triple Crown winner.
Whereas Game Winner is campaigned by regular clients Gary and Mary West, the WinStar partnership headed by Elliott Walden has gifted another chestnut, Improbable, following Justify’s historic campaign. Godolphin Racing is also scattering some of its best horses to the West Coast, selecting Baffert and Richard Mandella as trainers. Coliseum is among that bunch.
The result? Baffert is less vulnerable to a lull. If he misses out in the sales ring, new clientele will still have top horses headed his way.
Perhaps that explains a gap in Kentucky Derby wins for Baffert from 2003-2014. In the 2000s, the deaths of John C. Mabee (2002) and Robert B. Lewis (2006), along with the Thoroughbred Corp’s dispersal, thinned out his ranks.
“Those were huge clients,” Baffert said. “I lost like 40 to 50 horses just within a year, so I had to regroup. When you start out-living your clients, that’s not good. You just have to adapt.”
Baffert has, in part by becoming the go-to trainer in California as he once saw Whittingham. With five Derby wins, Baffert is only one behind the race’s all-time leader, Ben Jones, whose victories spanned from 1938-1952.
As for his Top 2, Baffert said Game Winner and Improbable are likely to run twice before the Derby. That puts the March 9 San Felipe (G2) and, with Baffert’s willingness to ship to Oaklawn Park, the March 16 Rebel (G2) both in play.
“They have enough foundation on them,” Baffert said. “Those clients — they want to be there for the big show. We’ve just got to find the right spots. We’re sitting on them, but sometimes you sit on them too long. You’ve got to make sure they don’t get stale on you.
“You can’t worry about that first out. That second out’s going to be more important to them. You have to count on their talent to get their points.”
Derby links
• Mind Control, winner of Tuesday’s Jerome Stakes, is expected to remain in New York for the duration of the Derby trail with the Withers (G3) and Wood Memorial (G2) the targets. Notably, the latter’s purse would jump to $1 million if he enters as a Grade 1 winner. “It certainly is enticing” Sacco said.
• BloodHorse’s Steve Haskin introduced his annual Derby Dozen column with a disclaimer: The rules have changed, “and there is one horse responsible for that. His name is Justify, and he has single-handedly made life on the Derby trail much more difficult for me.”
• According to the Vegas Stats & Information Network’s Ron Flatter, the Jerome outcome didn’t seriously sway the Derby future odds. Mind Control went into Tuesday’s race at 80-1.
The works
Gray Magician — Expected to enter Saturday’s Sham Stakes, the Peter Miller-trained son of Graydar hasn’t missed a beat since breaking his maiden by open lengths Nov. 24 at Del Mar. On Wednesday, he blew out three furlongs in 37.40 seconds at the San Luis Rey Training Center.
Kingly — Mohaymen’s full brother and a Dec. 1 debut winner may be coming up on an encore. The Tapit colt and Baffert trainee put in his fourth work since his first out, on Wednesday clocking 1:01.20 for five furlongs at Santa Anita.
In case you missed it…
Tuesday’s first Derby Daily of 2019 pondered the “Super 7” newly turned 3-year-olds we can reasonably expect to see running the first Saturday in May.