Barnes gives Baffert a winning presence in the Haskell

Oceanport, N.J.

Going back to the days when it was an invitational and a handicap, the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes has been won a record nine times by trainer Bob Baffert.

But Baffert has not always been at Monmouth Park to see them run. Jimmy Barnes, his assistant for nearly a quarter century, has.

“Nine wins and two seconds,” Barnes said Thursday morning.

Baffert, who will be busy at Del Mar, will not make the trip from Southern California this weekend. Barnes has been on the Jersey Shore all week looking after Taiba, the lightly raced colt who drew post 2 and was made the 7-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 55th renewal of New Jersey’s biggest Thoroughbred race.

“He’s a little fireball,” Barnes, 62, said while sitting outside the Kelly Breen barn that Baffert’s team traditionally borrows every summer. “He’s a feisty little thing. He’s nice in the barn, but you’ve got to pay attention. He’s young, and he feels good.”

Bought by Amr Zedan last year for $1.7 million, the Gun Runner colt has not raced since he faded from fifth to 12th in the Kentucky Derby. Although he is lightly raced, Taiba has been heavily scrutinized. That is partly because he was one of the colts who raced in the name of trainer Tim Yakteen while Baffert served his 90-day suspension because of the Medina Spirit medication mess.

From a 7 1/2-length debut win through his triumph in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) to his up-the-track performance at Churchill Downs, Taiba’s past performances span only nine weeks.

“We know he’s lightly raced, but I feel he’s doing really well,” Baffert said in a conference call after Wednesday’s draw. “I wanted to watch him train. I wasn’t really convinced he was going to the Haskell.”

That was before a 59.4-second breeze covering five furlongs at Santa Anita. It was the second fastest of 56 workouts at that distance Friday.

“He breezed really well,” Baffert said. “I was surprised what he did first out (to work). I let him dictate if he was ready or not. I wasn’t going to throw him into the deep end of the pool. I would have liked an extra week with him, but he’s doing really well. He has speed, and he doesn’t get tired. The two turns won’t be a problem for him.”

But what about the Derby? Baffert said he was at a loss. Barnes laughed and said fuggetaboudit.

“I basically would if I was handicapping,” Barnes said. And it was not all about Summer Is Tomorrow’s record-setting, 21.78-second opening quarter-mile that left most of the field huffing and puffing at the end. “He had only ran two times. On a normal horse you really wouldn’t break your maiden, win the Santa Anita Derby and then go on to the Kentucky Derby.”

Or any horse. Taiba tried but failed to become the second horse in history to win the Derby in his third career start. Leonatus was the only one who did, and that was in 1883.

Taiba could be navigating more uncharted water this weekend. Only one Haskell winner had fewer than three starts beforehand. That was Twice Worthy in 1970, when the then-Monmouth Invitational Handicap marked only his third start, according to track publicist Tom Luicci.

With $490,200 in race earnings and $600,000 going to the Haskell winner, Taiba is trying to become a millionaire by going up against the likes of undefeated Jack Christopher, who makes only his fifth start Saturday but already won two Grade 1 races and earned $841,400.

“It’s a tough race,” Barnes said. “We’re inside (in post 2), so it’s going to be up to (jockey) Mike (Smith) to play the break.”

Baffert’s last four Haskell winners – Paynter, Bayern, American Pharoah and Authentic – were on or near the lead throughout the race. Taiba does not figure to break that mold.

“California horses usually are speed horses,” Barnes said. “Not that this horse will be on the lead or anything. Our horses just run well on the East Coast.”

Jack Christopher is more likely to show the way with early speed, and Taiba might fit himself in as a stalker with the likes of Matt Winn (G3) runner-up Howling Time. Not that Barnes is certain of that.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know a whole lot about this horse,” he said. “He’s ran only once in my care, when he broke his maiden, and that was it. Then he moved over to Tim Yakteen, and now he’s moved back to our barn.”

Barnes is a true horseman who is most comfortable discussing, well, horses. Ask him how he would handle Taiba on Thursday and Friday, and he was happy to report the colt would gallop 1 1/4 miles each day ahead of Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile race.

Ask him about the equipment the horse has worn in workouts and races, and he dutifully offered details.

“He trained early with blinkers,” Barnes said. “But we took them off, and he ran with them off. It’s not a big blinker. It’s a smaller French blinker. He was either way, and Bob said, ‘You know, I like them better off.’ ”

Barnes, however, stays away from questions about the more human issues, such as the ones that have hounded Baffert since the late Medina Spirit failed a drug test that led to his being disqualified as last year’s Derby winner.

But there was one benign matter Barnes did not mind discussing. He said he would maintain a tradition that has become very much a part of the Haskell.

“My most important thing is to get my Max’s hot dog,” he said Thursday, referring the annual visit to the seaside eatery in nearby Long Branch. “I’ll be doing that maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Bob’s been going there since he first started coming here. I just followed the tradition.”

That will precede what Barnes hopes will be a 10th time making a trip to the winner’s circle, a tradition that began with Point Given in 2001.

“No superstitions,” Barnes said, who nevertheless pointed out one other thing different about this trip. “I liked it better when we stayed at Ocean Place (in Long Branch). They used to get rooms for us there. Now we get our own rooms.”

If there is one common denominator that goes beyond Barnes, it is the horses.

“I don’t think about records,” Baffert said. “I just think about sending a good horse there, and I’ve sent some really good ones. I hope this guy is the same type of horse I’ve been bringing up there. We know he’s very talented.”