It's 'back to the drawing board' with Grade 1 winner Eight Rings

Grade 1 winner Eight Rings emerged in good order from his fifth-place finish as the odds-on favorite in last Saturday’s $100,000 Bachelor Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert informed Oaklawn Park's publicity staff.

“He looked fine afterwards,” Baffert said. “They out-footed him away from there and after that he just lost interest. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board with him. Might be a little too short for him, too.”

The Empire Maker colt out of graded stakes winner Purely Hot was making his first start since finishing sixth in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park.

Purchased for $520,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale, the winner of the 2019 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita was competing in his first sprint since throwing jockey Drayden Van Dyke from the saddle in last September's Del Mar Futurity (G1).

Eight Rings has currently earned 10 points on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" prep race point system. The 2020 Kentucky Derby has been postponed until Sep. 5, giving the Baffert charge an additional four months to climb the leader board.