Video: Baffert is ready for Belmont day but scratches 1 of 3

Elmont, N.Y.

Bob Baffert made his return to Belmont Park on Friday morning, driving in with two of his sons to the barn where two of his horses are waiting their turns to run Saturday on Belmont Stakes day.

Preakness winner National Treasure is 5-1 on the morning line to win the Belmont. Arabian Lion, who won a stakes on the Preakness undercard, has 4-1 odds to win the Woody Stephens (G1). Fort Bragg, who also was entered for that race, was diagnosed with a fever and will be scratched.

Preakness winner National Treasure is 5-1 on the morning line to win the Belmont and become the first horse since 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify to win back-to-back classics. Like the other eight horses in the field, the $500,000 Quality Road colt owned by a partnership led by SF Racing will have to stretch to 1 1/2 miles.

“I think he should handle it,” Baffert told Horse Racing Nation. “You’re always worried about the distance. Pace makes the race, so it’s how fast they go early. The break is going to be important.”

That will be up to John Velázquez, who is National Treasure’s regular rider. His two Belmont wins came with the filly Rags to Riches in 2007 and Union Rags in 2012.

“As long as he gets into a nice rhythm, that’s the thing about all horses,” Baffert said. “You get your horse into a nice rhythm, that means he’s going to finish, and he’ll be able to handle the distance a lot better. If he can’t get in a rhythm, and he’s choked up, or if he goes too fast or he gets blocked off or cut off. That can have an effect on the horse.”

Baffert and Velázquez have had some big successes, especially in 2020 when Authentic won the Kentucky Derby, the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Eclipse Award as horse of the year. But Baffert knows there will be no shortage of quality riders this weekend.

“In the Belmont you have all these really good jockeys,” he said. “They’re trying to ride their horse to the best of their ability.”

Baffert was especially gratified that in the Preakness, National Treasure finally moved forward from being just a debut winner. It was part of the education process that Baffert prides himself in providing for his horses.

“He learned how to win again,” he said. “He knows how to win, and he’s a fighter. If it comes down like it did when (Blazing Sevens) passed him, and he came back on him. I love that part of him. He really dug in and has a huge heart, and he’s getting better. He’s getting better and better.”

In Saturday’s seven-furlong Woody Stephens (G1), Baffert entered Arabian Lion, who won the Sir Barton on Preakness day, and Fort Bragg, who raced for interim trainer Tim Yakteen to finish second in the Pat Day Mile (G2) on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

For Arabian Lion, this represents a cutback from four consecutive races at 1 1/16 miles. His most recent was three weeks ago, when he won the $100,000 Sir Barton at Pimlico.

“I was going to wait for the Haskell with him,” Baffert said about the 1 1/8-mile race next month in which he has trained a record nine winners. “But he was doing well. He came back, worked well, and so I thought Grade 1s are very important. And he’s a fast horse.”

Baffert said he had doubts about whether Arabian Lion, a $600,000 Justify colt owned by Amr Zedan, would develop into a route horse, especially after what looked like a gate-to-wire effort in the April 15 Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland was spoiled by a winning rally by First Mission.

“We weren’t sure if he was going to go two turns,” he said. “I tried him two turns at Pimlico, because he got beat in the Lexington Stakes when it looked like he was just going to win by three or four. He sort of saw the crowd. I think he just sort of hesitated a little bit and got beat. I’ve always been really high on the horse, and this is a really tough race.”

Fort Bragg, who finished second in last month’s Pat Day Mile (G2) racing at Churchill Downs for interim trainer Tim Yakteen, would have carried 5-1 morning-line odds in the Woody Stephens had he been healthy.

“He had a little temperature, and I had to scratch him,” Baffert said. “He’ll be fine, and hopefully we’ll run him back here in the Dwyer (G3)” on July 1.

Saturday marks the first time Baffert has raced in New York since Rockefeller finished last in the 2022 Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct. That was before he had to serve suspensions that covered last year’s Triple Crown.