Baffert re-ups: 'I'd rather retire' than leave California racing

Bob Baffert didn’t quite walk back his comments on a potential departure from California, but in a new interview this week with the Southern California News Group’s Art Wilson, the Hall of Fame trainer made the prospect of leaving the state seem dismal.

“That’s a last resort,” Baffert told Wilson. “It’s either retire or leave California, and I think I’d rather retire. I can’t picture myself anywhere else.”

When Baffert initially voiced concerns to the Vegas Stats and Information Network’s Ron Flatter, he did so amid a shutdown to racing at Santa Anita Park going on a month after the local health department declared it a non-essential business. Since then, Santa Anita has released a condition book in homes of resuming business May 15, coinciding with the end of the county’s “safer-at-home” order.

Baffert’s concerns stemmed from the potential lack of competition on the California circuit once it does ramp back up. His original comments also came the same day as he joined industry proponents in a rally outside a meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors.

“If there’s nobody to run against it’s going to be tough,” Baffert told VSiN’s Flatter, with him and other horsemen having to make habit of shipping this spring to Oaklawn Park, where racing has continued. The exodus actually began last year when Santa Anita temporarily shut down to address equine safety issues and, as part of the fallout, a number of trainers sought out opportunities across the country, mainly in Kentucky.

Baffert told the Southern California News Group’s Wilson that leaving California is “a long ways off,” but he added that 300 horses have left the state during the meet.

Santa Anita does have a program in effect to lure horsemen back to the west coast. The Sunshine Bonus provides $3,000 in earnings to horses making their first start in California in at least a year, and 50% more earnings are provided for the initial race at Santa Anita if that horse finishes fifth or better in a non-stakes race.

A winner of more than 3,000 career races, Baffert campaigns a number of top horses across divisions but is particularly loaded, as usual, with 3-year-old colts. In September at a postponed Kentucky Derby he’s expected to challenge for what would be a record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby victory.