Which of Baffert’s Derby contenders may be moved?

With one week left before a transfer deadline set by Churchill Downs Inc., six colts in the barn of Bob Baffert could be prime candidates to move temporarily to other trainers so they may be eligible for Kentucky Derby 2024.

If the Las Vegas futures for the Derby are any indication, graded-stakes winners Nysos, Muth, Maymun, Pilot Commander, Coach Prime and Prince of Monaco may be the most likely colts to be transferred. Led by undefeated Nysos at best odds of 20-1, they were among the 42 shortest-priced horses to win May 4 in Louisville, Ky.

Churchill moves up Kentucky Derby 2024 eligibility deadline.

Next Monday was set as the deadline when, as the 2024 Derby conditions were written, “horses under the care of any suspended trainer may be transferred to a non-suspended trainer and become eligible for earning points in a road to the Kentucky Derby race on a forward-looking basis.” That is 30 days earlier than the deadline that was established last year.

Baffert has been under an indefinite suspension from CDI tracks since May 9, 2021, when it was announced Medina Spirit failed a drug test after finishing in first place eight days earlier in the Derby. That led to a precedent-setting disqualification as well as lengthy legal and administrative fights brought by Baffert and Medina Spirit’s owner Amr Zedan.

Tim Yakteen, a former assistant to Baffert, stepped in to train Reincarnate to a 13th-place finish in last year’s Derby. He also took on two of Baffert’s horses in 2022, when Taiba came in 12th and Messier 15th at Churchill Downs. Yakteen, Steve Asmussen and Brittany Russell were sent eight of Baffert’s potential Derby candidates before last year’s deadline.

Nysos, the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes winner who is 2-for-2 and was the joint second choice Sunday in the Nevada futures behind 12-1 Fierceness, is owned by Charles and Susan Chu’s Baoma Corp, which was not faced this transfer dilemma before.

“Unfortunately, our country is devolving into a nation where excluding the top competition is considered a legitimate way (to) win,” Baoma Corp director Ed Nevins said in a text message Saturday, deferring the decision to Baffert. “Bob Baffert is our trainer, and we stand with him and any decisions he makes regarding our horses.”

Baffert did not respond to a text message asking if there would be any move of Derby candidates in the coming days.

Zedan, who transferred Derby candidates to Yakteen each of the last two years, owns Muth, Maymun and Coach Prime. Muth, the San Vicente (G2) winner who was 28-1 on Sunday in the Derby futures, forfeited 25 Derby qualifying points for his American Pharoah (G1) win and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up finish. Maymun, a $900,000 Frosted colt, opened at 50-1 in Nevada after a 7 1/2-length debut victory Saturday at Santa Anita. Coach Prime, 100-1 in Las Vegas, lost the three points he earned for finishing third in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2).

Maiden winner Pilot Commander, who carried a 60-1 Derby futures price after finishing second in the San Vicente, is owned by Edward, Bill and Alex Childs’ CSLR Racing Partners, who are faced with this transfer decision for the first time.

Prince of Monaco, who drifted to 120-1 in the Derby futures after his undefeated record was blemished by his fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is owned by the SF Racing partnership that transferred horses to Yakteen and Russell the past two years. He lost the three points he would have gotten for his Breeders’ Cup finish.

These were the Baffert horses with their odds Sunday in Nevada at Caesars Sportsbook and Circa Sports to win Kentucky Derby 2024: