Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Former rivals Baffert, Walden find themselves on same team
BALTIMORE – In the giddy first moments of a post-race press conference following Justify’s victory in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, Bob Baffert looked over at Elliott Walden and said, “Elliott cost me a Triple Crown, so you’re off the hook, Elliott.”
“You cost me a Derby,” Walden quickly replied.
Yes, this year marks the 20-year anniversary of when Baffert and Walden battled in a gripping Triple Crown series that is still top of mind for both. Baffert won the first two legs with Real Quiet, with Walden finishing second in both the Derby and Preakness with Victory Gallop. Then in the final leg, the Belmont Stakes, Victory Gallop got up in the very last jump to nail Real Quiet, denying Real Quiet the Triple Crown.
In the two decades since then, their careers took divergent paths. Baffert continued his rise to the top of the training profession, winning the Derby twice more prior to this year, including a Triple Crown sweep with American Pharoah in 2015. Walden moved on from training to, beginning in 2005, an executive position with Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm, where his many responsibilities as president and chief executive officer include deciding who trains which of their horses.
Now, they are on the same team. They have a Derby victory in tandem, and on Saturday here at Pimlico, Baffert and Walden are hoping Justify can keep his Triple Crown hopes alive when he starts as the heavy favorite in the Preakness.
In addition to enjoying the moment, their recent success has given them a chance to look back at their friendly rivalry from 20 years ago.
“We ran against each other quite a bit,” Baffert said of the late 1990s and early 2000s. “He was always very kind, not mean-spirited. He’s a very genuine guy.”
Their current partnership began last year, when Baffert started training horses for WinStar, and it peaked gloriously this spring, with the ascension of Justify from an unstarted maiden to a Kentucky Derby winner in just 11 weeks. It was Walden who made the decision to send Justify to Baffert, and it was Baffert who delivered to Kentucky-based WinStar its second Derby winner, following the Todd Pletcher-trained Super Saver in 2010.
“He’s very tuned in to his horses, has a lot of experience,” Walden said of why he added Baffert to his roster of trainers. “He’s had a lot of success for a long time.
“Jimmy Barnes,” Walden said, referring to Baffert’s top assistant, “is one of the best horsemen I’ve ever seen. And Bob’s a great communicator. I didn’t know that about him until I started working with him. I appreciate that, espe-
cially being 2,000 miles away.”
Baffert said one of the reasons he enjoys working with Walden is that Walden, as a former trainer, completely understands that part of the process.
“I just tell him what’s going on,” Baffert said. “He knows. He understands the pressure we’re under. He’s hands on, but in a good way.”
Baffert in 1998 had two top contenders for the Derby in Indian Charlie, who went off the favorite, and Real Quiet. They had run one-two, in that order, in the Santa Anita Derby. Meanwhile, Victory Gallop won the Arkansas Derby in his final prep for the Kentucky Derby.
“In January and February he had little issues, and we weren’t sure he was going to make the Kentucky Derby,” Walden recalled in a recent interview.
Victory Gallop won his 3-year-old debut in the Rebel at Oaklawn, followed by an Arkansas Derby victory there.
“We were excited when we got to Louisville, thought the horse would run big in the Kentucky Derby,” Walden said.
He did. Victory Gallop finished furiously, coming up a half-length short of catching Real Quiet after starting from post 13 in a field of 15.
“He always tells me he should have won that Derby,” Baffert said.
“I do feel he was the best horse,” Walden said. “He got shuffled back, was really wide.”
Walden said it was a “tough defeat,” but being a religious man found comfort in a Bible passage he had heard jockey Pat Day reference after a gutwrenching loss.
“Romans 8:28 – ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,’ ” Walden said. “That gave me a real peace about the way he ran.”
Alex Solis rode Victory Gallop in the Derby, but Gary Stevens got the mount for the Preakness and the Belmont. In the Preakness, Stevens made a mid-race move to try and stay closer to Real Quiet, but still had to settle for second, this time beaten 2 1/4 lengths.
“We tried to stay closer to Real Quiet,” Walden said. “It was a strategic decision that didn’t work out. I remember Gary jumping off after the race and saying, ‘I know how to ride him now.’ He was very positive after the Preakness.”
Real Quiet and Victory Gallop came into the Belmont in good shape. Not so Walden, who broke his right ankle playing pick-up basketball a week before the race.
“It was a displaced fracture,” he said. “I needed a plate and eight screws. They’re still in my leg.”
Real Quiet was seeking to become the first Triple Crown winner in 20 years, since Affirmed in 1978. He opened a seemingly insurmountable lead in upper stretch. But Victory Gallop, under a brilliant ride by Stevens, split two pairs of rivals in the final quarter-mile and just touched out Real Quiet to win by a nose while overcoming a late bump.
“I think if he hadn’t been bumped he would have won by a half-length,” Walden said. “Real Quiet really knocked him, caused him to change leads. They brushed pretty hard.”
Had the photo gone the other way, “I am grateful the stewards didn’t have to make a decision on whether to disqualify a Triple Crown winner,” Walden said.
“That would have been a very difficult thing to do,” he said.
Baffert had lost the 1996 Derby with Cavonnier in the last stride to Grindstone, and he said that “was the worst beat ever . . . until Elliott beat me in the Triple Crown.”
After failing to add the Belmont to victories in the Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998, and War Emblem in 2002, Baffert swept the series with American Pharoah in 2015.
Walden never won the Derby as a trainer. The year after finishing second with Victory Gallop, he suffered another tough defeat, finishing second again, this time with Menifee, beaten a neck by Charismatic.
But now, 20 years on from their battles with Real Quiet and Victory Gallop, Baffert and Walden are aligned with Justify. They have combined for a Derby win, and now are in pursuit of the Triple Crown.
“I just want to thank Elliott for this lottery ticket,” Baffert said.