Bob Baffert will split stable between California and Kentucky

Trainer Bob Baffert is about to turn his barn at Churchill Downs into more than just a Triple Crown waystation that has housed six Kentucky Derby winners. He is sending a string of runners there for the entire spring meet.

“I’m just bringing a group of nice horses to Churchill,” he said by phone Wednesday afternoon from Southern California. “Just splitting the barn up. I will still have a string in California.”

He stopped short of offering specific names and numbers, but he said this will not be a cameo appearance in Louisville, Ky.

DeRosa: Kentucky Derby 2026 fair odds.

“We’re going to nominate to all those big stakes races,” he told Horse Racing Nation. “I’m going to have a lot of nice horses there.”

Although he is not abandoning Santa Anita, Baffert admitted he cannot ignore the erosion of the West Coast horse population.

“I’ll still have horses in California, but I just need more places to run,” he said. “We have a shortage of horses out here. I’ve got a lot of horses in the same category, and there’s more options there in Kentucky.”

They include the April 3-24 meet at Keeneland and April 25-June 28 at Churchill Downs.

Kentucky tracks have been sprayed with a virtual firehose of money from historic horse-racing machines. While those dollars have swollen purses and kept field sizes at healthy levels, the lack of gaming money from other sources is the biggest reason California racing has suffered. Kentucky offers five days of competition most weeks, but California struggles to fill three.

“It just gets tougher,” Baffert said. “You see what’s happening in California. It’s hard.”

Baffert has no shortage of quality to sort between the two states. He already has eight graded and group wins this year, with six coming at Santa Anita. Potente all but mathematically punched his Kentucky Derby 2026 ticket with his score in the San Felipe (G2). Plutarch won the Bob Lewis (G3) before Baffert took him off the Derby trail for what he said was body soreness. Five-year-old mare Splendora finished first in both the Beholder Mile (G1) and D. Wayne Lukas (G2). Nafisa, another 5-year-old mare, was a January winner in the La Cañada (G3). Forced Entry earned Kentucky Oaks (G1) points with her triumph in the Santa Ysabel (G3). In Arkansas, Explora clinched her spot in the Oaks with her victory in the Honeybee (G3) on March 1 at Oaklawn.

Five-year-old Imagination returned to the work tab for Baffert on Saturday, exactly one month after his victory in the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G2). Five-year-old Nysos, who finished second to Japan star Forever Young that night in the $20 million Saudi Cup, has yet to breeze since his return home. Neither has 4-year-old Nevada Beach, who was 12th in the Saudi Cup. Baffert decided not to go on to this month’s Dubai World Cup (G1) even before the latest Middle East war began Feb. 26.

Baffert said he was not sure yet when his horses would arrive at Churchill, where the stables reopened Tuesday and the first track works of the year came Wednesday morning.

“We’re just getting the barn all cleaned up,” he said. “We’ve got to fix it up.”

Baffert’s horses, including his Derby winners, have been April and May stalwarts in barn 33 since 1996. After a 3 1/2-year, track-management suspension because of Medina Spirit’s disqualification from his first-place finish in Kentucky Derby 2021, Baffert returned to Churchill Downs in November 2024 when Barnes won a maiden special weight in his debut. Citizen Bull was there for Baffert last spring to finish 15th in the Derby.

The Hall of Fame trainer and the home of America’s most important race are so intertwined that the rail opening nearest to his Churchill barn is nicknamed the Baffert gap.

Potente figures to be among Baffert’s Churchill Downs horses, but not before one more race in California on April 4.

“(Maiden winner) Cherokee Nation and Potente are in the Santa Anita Derby (G1),” Baffert said. “And (maiden winner) Blacksmith, he’s at Fair Grounds” for the Louisiana Derby (G2) on Saturday.

Potente closed last weekend at 18-1 and Cherokee Nation 19-1 in pool 5 of the pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager. In Nevada’s fixed-odds Derby futures, Cherokee Nation was best-priced Wednesday night at 16-1 and Potente was 30-1.

Graded-stakes winners Litmus Test, Brant and Desert Gate and three-time graded-stakes-placed Buetane are Baffert’s other points earners from Derby preps, but recent off-the-board finishes have dulled their shine with bettors.

Baffert said he would decide what to do next with all his 3-year-old colts after they have workouts in the next few days.

Baffert has two fillies already qualified for the Kentucky Oaks on the night of May 1. In addition to Explora, he has Battle of Rouge, who won the Virginia Oaks on Saturday. Explora closed at 8-1 and Bottle of Rouge 14-1 on Sunday in the lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager run by Churchill Downs.

Forced Entry, who won the Santa Ysabel (G3) on March 8, and French Blue, who finished third, also loom as does the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) on April 4. Baffert stopped short of putting names together with races.

“I’ve got some more fillies running back next week, so you never know,” he said. “That race is too far out. I don’t want to jinx them.”