Brisset: Ex-Baffert colt Blackadder will race in Jeff Ruby

Blackadder, newly moved from Bob Baffert to Rodolphe Brisset, will ship to Keeneland and make his next start April 2 at Turfway Park in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks, which offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers.

The colt is one of four transferred from Baffert's barn this week ahead of the major Kentucky Derby qualifiers. Messier, Doppelganger and McLaren Vale were transferred to former Baffert assistant Tim Yakteen. (Read more here.)

Brisset told Horse Racing Nation he learned of the change on Wednesday, when he got a call from Tom Ryan of SF Racing, who leads Blackadders's ownership group.

"It's nothing new for us," Brisset said. "We've been working with that ownership for the past three years."

In a Twitter post, Ryan said Brisset and Yakteen both are "top-class horsemen."

The group also transferred Barossa from Baffert to Brisset. The colt was offered at auction earlier this month but went unsold.

Brisset noted that Blackadder earned an automatic berth in the Preakness Stakes with his win on the synthetic surface at Golden Gate Fields in the El Camino Real Derby. He didn't want to speculate on whether the Kentucky Derby might be the next stop after the Jeff Ruby, which also is raced on an all-weather track.

"So we've got to go race by race. And first, we've got to focus on the Ruby and then go from there."

Baffert and his horses are ineligible to take part in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks as part of a two-year suspension by Churchill Downs Inc. because of the drug test failed by the late Medina Spirit. That test led to the colt's disqualification as the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Baffert and his attorneys are appealing the ruling and his suspension.