Baffert lining up horses, jockeys for Kentucky Derby week

Never mind getting his horses to Churchill Downs. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been busy just trying to find jockeys who will ride his horses in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.

“We’re dealing with a lot of protocols and a lot of paperwork,” Baffert said Monday morning in a telephone conversation from Southern California. “It’s not easy going to Churchill Downs. Some guys want to go. Some guys don’t want to go. We’re working those things out.”

Wrestling with restrictions laid down by Churchill Downs to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among jockeys, Baffert late last week nailed down the services of John Velázquez out of New York and Kentucky-based Florent Geroux for his three horses that will be prominent in Oaks and Derby betting.

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Velázquez will ride two-time Grade 1 winner Gamine, the current 1-2 favorite in foreign betting for the Oaks, and Authentic, a 10-1 fourth choice in Las Vegas futures for the Derby. Geroux will be on Thousand Words, the Shared Belief winner that has shortened from 35-1 to 12-1 to win the Derby.

Baffert also confirmed that Uncle Chuck, a disappointing sixth this month in the Travers (G1), will not race in the Derby. He also said that four-time G1 winner McKinzie will return to racing as soon as the Aug. 29 running of the Pat O’Brien (G2) sprint and that his disqualified Arkansas Derby winner Charlatan is back in his Del Mar barn more than two months after being diagnosed with an ankle injury.

And even though he was in a one-step-at-a-time frame of mind, Baffert ruled out any chance that Gamine might race in the Preakness against Tiz The Law, Swiss Skydiver or any other horse that shows up at Pimlico on Oct. 3.

Authentic and Thousand Words have had nothing but California riders in their 12 combined races in three states. But with Churchill Downs insisting that jockeys be in Kentucky no later than Aug. 31, that left those jockeys the difficult choice of taking a ride in the Oaks or Derby at the expense of potentially lucrative stakes races back home at Del Mar.

“I offered the California riders first,” Baffert said. “They wanted to ride Thousand Words, and I think Thousand Words is a nice horse. But they don’t want to leave their business here. I knew this was going to happen. Usually these guys would give an arm and a leg to ride in the Kentucky Derby. But not this year.”

Mike Smith, the one prominent California rider who quickly declared that he would be at Churchill Downs, already was committed to ride Honor A. P. in the Derby.

With Gamine, it was a case of Baffert staying with the hot hand of Velázquez, who rode her to victories of 18 lengths in the Acorn (G1) at Belmont Park and seven lengths in this month’s Test (G1) at Saratoga.

Another Baffert filly, Crystal Ball, faded from an early lead to finish a distant fifth last weekend in the Alabama (G1) at Saratoga. She will miss the Oaks as she gets a break from racing.

“We’re going to send her back to WinStar and freshen her up,” Baffert said. “She came back fine, but she just didn’t really respond. When (Swiss Skydiver) came to her, she just didn’t respond at all.”

After his own failure at Saratoga, Uncle Chuck is also headed back to the drawing board.

“I wasn’t happy with his race,” Baffert said. “It was just too much for him. I’m just going to freshen him up. There are no plans yet.”

It is a different story for McKinzie, the 5-year-old that faded to finish fifth last month in the Met Mile (G1) at Belmont Park.

“It’s either going to be the Pat O’Brien over seven-eighths or the Alysheba (G2),” Baffert said, declaring the 8 1/2-furlong race Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs as an alternative. “I’m leaning to the Pat O’Brien. But the Alysheba? I’m watching it closely.”

Baffert also said that Game Winner, unraced in the last 13 months, and Mucho Gusto, idle since finishing fourth Feb. 29 in the Saudi Cup, “are just jogging now” with no immediate plans and that Mucho Gusto is “a long ways off.” He also said that Charlatan, stripped of an Arkansas Derby victory because of a medication violation, could be back to training “in another month.”

In the meantime, Baffert is trying to stay focused on navigating complications brought on by the pandemic — and by the run-of-the-mill training of talented horses that he is about to ship to Kentucky.

“We’ve just to get there first,” he said. “Everything changes every day. Once we’re there, then we’ll get excited.”

But even though he said that Gamine “is not going to run in the Preakness; believe me, no, no,” Baffert did allow himself to consider how challenging the Oaks and Derby will be — and how attractive they will be for fans.

“We’re happy that we even have good horses, and they’re going to be great races,” he said. “It’s going to be exciting with good horses in there. There’s top-five horses in both of them. Neither race is a gimme.”