After 2 losses, Kentucky Derby hopeful Gaming looks to reboot

Needing one victory in early November to clinch a championship, Gaming now seeks a resume reboot in late January.

“He went from the top 12 to nowhere,” Bob Baffert, Gaming’s Southern California-based Hall of Fame trainer, said Wednesday morning. “That’s the way it is in this business. You’re only as good as your last race.”

Gaming’s first opportunity to snap a two-race losing skid comes Saturday at Oaklawn when he makes his 2025 debut in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. Probable post time for the Southwest, which headlines a 12-race program, is 5:10 p.m. EST.

Raised to seven figures for the first time after previously being worth $800,000, the Southwest will offer 20-10-6-4-2 points to the top five finishers toward Kentucky Derby starting eligibility. It is Oaklawn’s second of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races, a series that continues with the Rebel Stakes (G2) on Feb. 22 and the Arkansas Derby (G1) on March 29.

Gaming, the 2-1 program favorite, is the most accomplished entrant in the Southwest, a race Baffert has won a record six times. From the first crop of champion Game Winner, Gaming has collected 18 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and is among three finalists for an Eclipse Award as the country’s champion 2-year-old male. He won his first two starts, including the Del Mar Futurity (G1) at seven furlongs Sept. 8 at Del Mar.

Positioned for year-end honors in his next start, Gaming finished second behind stablemate Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, then fizzled in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) Dec. 14 at Los Alamitos, his final race at 2, finishing a well-beaten third as the 1-2 favorite. That race was also 1 1/16 miles.

“He’s doing well,” Baffert said. “He ran a big race in the Breeders’ Cup. I might have been a little too easy on him for the Los Al. I wasn’t sure if I was going to run in there and then at the last minute decided I was going to run him there. He just didn’t bring his ‘A’ game that day. Just got a little bit worked up in the paddock. He was too fresh. He didn’t bring it, and that’s what happens.”

Gaming has four published workouts at Santa Anita in advance of the Southwest. All were five furlongs, including a bullet drill in 58.60 seconds Jan. 11.

Gaming is the latest in a long line of Triple Crown hopefuls Baffert has sent to Oaklawn for their first starts outside California. That list includes champions Lookin At Lucky and American Pharoah, both of whom won the Rebel in their 3-year-old debuts. American Pharoah returned to win the Arkansas Derby before sweeping the Triple Crown.

Baffert said Gaming arrived Tuesday afternoon after being flown from California.

“He shipped well,” Baffert said. “Everything went well there, so he got that done.”

Baffert trains Gaming for long-time clients Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. They teamed to win the second division of the Southwest and Rebel in 2012 with Secret Circle. Baffert also won the Southwest in 2010 with Conveyance, 2012 first division with Castaway, 2013  with Super Ninety Nine, 2022 with Newgrange and 2023 with Arabian Knight.

Game Winner, Baffert’s champion 2-year-old male of 2018, made his 3-year-old debut in the 2019 Rebel, second division, and finished second, beaten a nose by Omaha Beach.