Spouse or Sheikh? Baffert trains San Diego contenders for both
The question regarding Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 San Diego Handicap was one only Bob Baffert was qualified to ponder.
“Is it a bigger stressor to train a horse for your wife, or for one of the richest and most powerful men in the world?"
That’s the situation the Hall of Fame conditioner is in as he prepares to send out Dr. Dorr, owned by his wife Jill, and Dabster, owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Saeed Al Maktoum, a member of the royal family of Dubai and first cousin to the country’s ruler.
It didn’t take long for Baffert to dismiss one of the possibilities.
“Training for my wife, there’s no pressure there,” Baffert said. “We breed them and race them for fun and the horse has been good enough that it’s been enjoyable for both of us.”
Dr. Dorr, a 5-year-old gelded son of Lookin At Lucky, the 2009 Del Mar Futurity winner, out of the Unusual Heat mare Jax El, was bred in Kentucky by Madeline Auerbach, the late Jack Klugman and Bob Baffert. Dr. Dorr has five wins in 13 career starts and earnings of $388,320. Three of the wins, two of them in stakes, were accomplished in five starts this year.
He was a four-length winner in a $75,000 overnight stakes at Santa Anita in March, and followed that up with an impressive seven-length score in the Grade 2 Californian in May. Dr. Dorr was second to Accelerate in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in late May, then shipped east for an unsuccessful run in the Grade II Suburban at Belmont Park two weeks ago.
Dabster, a $1 million purchase at auction in 2016, is a four-year-old son of Curlin who crossed under the wire in front in four of six starts but was disqualified and placed fourth in one. His two losses have come in graded stakes, the Malibu on December 26 of last year and the San Carlos on June 23 at Santa Anita.
Baffert, whose only San Diego victory came with Fed Biz in 2014, had planned to run another Sheikh Mohammed color bearer, Mubtaahij, in the San Diego, but a fever as the entry deadline approached forced a scratch. Mubtaahij will be pointed to the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on August 18, the signature event of the summer season and the race for which the San Diego is a major prep. The San Diego will be run as the seventh on a 10-race card.
Sharp Samurai and Prince Arabia were scratched Friday morning. Sharp Samurai is entered in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes.
The field from the rail: Catalina Cruiser (Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1), Dr. Dorr (Joe Talamo, 5-1), Two Thirty Five (Franklin Ceballos, 6-1), Curlin Rules (Tyler Baze, 20-1), Accelerate (Victor Espinoza, 8-5), El Huerfano (Tyler Conner, 20-1), Dabster (Flavien Prat, 8-1) and Harlan Punch (Martin Pedroza, 8-1).