Baffert sends 3 to Saratoga while 2 others stay in Kentucky

Louisville, Ky.

Bob Baffert will not have any starters in Belmont Stakes 2026, but he will have three of his Kentucky-based horses on a trailer Monday afternoon bound for tough tests at Saratoga.

After the Hall of Fame trainer watched their pre-dawn workouts on the roof of the Churchill Downs grandstand Sunday, multimillionaire Nysos, undefeated Crude Velocity and multiple graded-stakes winner Imagination were declared ready for a loaded Saturday undercard.

Churchill Downs: Baffert scores with Splendora in Shawnee.

“I was very happy with the way they breezed,” Baffert told Horse Racing Nation at his barn office. “They went easy halves and just cruised around there.”

Five-year-old Nysos, who worked his half-mile with jockey Martín García in 47.4 seconds, will be entered for the $1 million Met Mile (G1). Crude Velocity, who carried Florent Géroux through a 48.6-second breeze covering the same four furlongs, will go in the seven-furlong, $500,000 Woody Stephens (G1) for 3-year-olds. Four-year-old Imagination, who took García a half-mile in 48.0 seconds, races Saturday in the 6 1/2-furlong, $400,000 True North (G3) for older horses.

“Nysos looked fantastic. This is what I wanted to see in his last work,” Baffert said. “Crude Velocity just cruised around there nice and easy going seven-eighths to sharpen him up a little bit. I didn’t really want to do too much with him. And Imagination looked good, too.”

The three stablemates will board a trailer leaving the backside at Churchill Downs on Monday for the 800-mile trip to upstate New York.

“Now they’ve got to get in the van,” said Baffert, who rued the loss of Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation’s Air Horse One flights five years ago. “In a perfect world, I’d put them on a Tex Sutton flight and drop them off there Wednesday. Unfortunately they’ll have to leave (Monday). They leave in the afternoon, and they get there early (Tuesday) morning.”

Potente, the 12th-place Kentucky Derby finisher who was considered for the 1 1/4-mile Belmont, will be pointed instead to the Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn worth $500,000 next Sunday at Churchill Downs. Baffert made that decision a day before the other three horses had their works.

“We sort of rushed him getting him into the Derby, and really, he had a rough trip,” said Baffert, who watched Potente breeze five furlongs in 1:00.0 on Saturday. “He’s just learning. He’s a horse that’s just going to get better with age. We’ll just keep him here and see what he does in the Matt Winn.”

Nysos, an entire son of Nyquist who is owned by Baoma Corp, will make his first start since second-place finish Feb. 14 to Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young in the 1 1/8-mile, $20 million Saudi Cup (G1).

“He ran through the wire,” Baffert said. “I think he’s sitting on a big race right now.”

As good as Nysos was in defeat that night, Baffert felt he was even better winning the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile seven months ago at Del Mar.

“He just had a bad post (12) in Saudi,” Baffert said. “He ran all right. I thought it would be a good post for him, but they kept him wide and jostled him. (Forever Young) cut the corner, and it was disappointing.”

The Met Mile will be run for the third year in a row out of the Wilson chute at Saratoga, which connects to the clubhouse turn at a 90-degree angle past the homestretch. In essence the race goes 1 1/2 turns.

“The Wilson chute is tricky,” Baffert said. “But hey, we’ve won it before.”

Indeed, National Treasure scored in 2024, the first year Saratoga hosted the Met Mile and the rest of the card while Belmont Park was being rebuilt in time for its reopening in September. In the traditional, one-turn layout on Long Island, Baffert won the Met Mile with Mor Spirit in 2017.

Nysos, who is 9: 7-2-0 with $4,738,500 in career earnings, will be in what is expected to be a loaded entry box Sunday with fellow Grade 1 winners Journalism, Antiquarian and Saudi Crown.

“Hey, Grade 1s are supposed to be tough,” said Baffert, who will keep Flavien Prat in the irons on Nysos. Prat also will ride Imagination in the True North.

Crude Velocity, who is 3-for-3 for CSLR Racing Partners, goes into the Woody Stephens off a 3 3/4-length victory May 2 in the Pat Day Mile (G2) on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Baffert said he hopes to make the 3-year-old Beau Liam colt his horse July 18 for the 1 1/8-mile, $1 million Haskell (G1), the Monmouth Park feature that he has won a record nine times.

“I was debating whether to run him in the Matt Winn, because I want to run him in the Haskell,” Baffert said. “But you know what? He’s fast, and he’s just a brilliant horse.”

Pat Day Mile runner-up Englishman is expected to make it a rematch for Crude Velocity, who will be ridden by Florent Géroux in the Woody Stephens. Recent stakes winners Obliteration and Solitude Dude also may line up next Saturday for the race Baffert has won three times, with Bayern in 2014, American Anthem in 2017 and Arabian Lion in 2023.

Baffert said Brant, who finished fifth last out in the San Felipe (G2) on March 7 at Santa Anita, would not be in the Woody Stephens.

“I’m going to wait. At the end of the month there’s a seven-eighths race here,” said Baffert, who would be eyeing the $250,000 Maxfield (G3) on June 28. “I’m just getting him back to his old form.”

A 3-year-old Gun Runner colt owned by Zedan Racing Stables, Brant won his first two races in 2025, including the Del Mar Futurity (G1).

Since he moved his top horses from California to fill barn 33 at Churchill Downs, Baffert has had former Jerry Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward by his side. He mans the walkie-talkie on the ground while Baffert takes command from his perch at eye level with the twin spires. Jimmy Barnes continues to watch over Baffert’s string in Southern California.

“I have a lot of horses in the same category,” Baffert said. “That was primarily why we made the move here.”

Wins Saturday with Splendora in the Shawnee (G2) and Cornucopian in the Aristides (G3) only added to the benefits.

As Baffert simply put it, “So far so good.”