Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Led by Life Is Good, Baffert well-stocked for record run
There is no trainer more focused on winning the Kentucky Derby, or with clientele who share the same goal, as Bob Baffert.
In the years since he first won the Derby back in 1997 with Silver Charm, his stable size has grown, and Derby stock has become the biggest part of the portfolio. The combination of choice horses and a Hall of Fame trainer has resulted in three Derby victories and two Triple Crowns in the last six years. With six Derby victories overall, Baffert is tied with the legendary Ben Jones for the lead among trainers.
Two months out from this year’s Derby, Baffert again has the potential to be well-represented on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs as he seeks record-setting Derby win number seven. He currently has five of the 20 horses on the Derby Watch list, led by the unbeaten Life Is Good, the Sham winner scheduled to make his next start Saturday in the San Felipe at Santa Anita.
Life Is Good is scheduled to be joined in the San Felipe by stablemate Medina Spirit, who was second in the Sham and then won the Robert Lewis. Baffert will try to divide and conquer with the rest. Freedom Fighter has been sent to Aqueduct to remain around one turn in the Gotham, also Saturday. Freedom Fighter most recently finished second in the San Vicente to stablemate Concert Tour, who is set to go to Oaklawn and stretch out in the Rebel on March 13. Last Saturday at Oaklawn, Spielberg, the Los Alamitos Futurity winner, ran his best race yet, finishing second to champion Essential Quality in the Southwest.
Beginning with Spielberg in the Los Alamitos Futurity and continuing through the Sham, San Vicente, and Lewis, Baffert has won the last four open graded stakes in Southern California for Derby-aged runners, with four different horses.
Each of those four horses is owned by a different entity seeking the same goal. Life Is Good is owned by WinStar Farm and China Horse Club, which bought the colt at auction as a yearling for $525,000 from owner-breeders Gary and Mary West. The Wests held onto another of their colts from that crop, Concert Tour, who like Life Is Good is 2 for 2. Medina Spirit is the bargain of the group, a $35,000 2-year-old purchase by the Zedan Racing Stables of Amr Zedan.
But the biggest influence on Baffert’s recent success is the partnership that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Sol Kumin, who own Freedom Fighter and Spielberg. They first joined forces with a handful from the crop that included Justify, the 2018 Triple Crown winner, who had WinStar and China Horse Club among his initial investors. Last year’s Derby crop from that partnership – which Baffert has nicknamed “The Avengers” – included Authentic, who won the Derby, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and was Horse of the Year.
The play is to buy a sizable number of colts, develop as many as possible into Grade 1 winners, and make lucrative stallion prospects out of them. Justify, now at Coolmore America, and Authentic, who had a significant interest purchased by Spendthrift Farm in the middle of his 3-year-old campaign – and is now at stud at Spendthrift – are the biggest home runs, and more than make up for the ones who don’t pan out. Several others, like Malibu winner Charlatan, are stand-up triples.
They come in waves, first in the summer of their 2-yearold year, then the fall, and finally the latest developers who debut at 3, like Justify. Last summer, prior to Del Mar, Baffert had 45 2-yearolds nominated to the Del Mar Futurity. Life Is Good and Medina Spirit were so far away from their debuts at that point that they were not among that group.
Baffert’s Triple Crown nominations this year also include lone runners owned by Spendthrift, the Coolmore team of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith; Juddmonte Farms, which owned Arrogate; Michael Lund Petersen, who owns the champion filly Gamine; Speedway Stables, which owned Grade 1 winners Collected and Roadster; the partnership of Mike Pegram – who owned Baffert’s second Derby winner, Real Quiet – Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman; and the Summer Wind Equine of Jane Lyon, who has Triple Tap, an unraced halfbrother to Baffert’s first Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah.
The structure is in place for more of the same in coming years. Last fall, flush with cash taken off the table earlier in the year with the partial sale of Authentic, The Avengers – in concert with top bloodstock agent Donato Lanni – bought 28 colts at Keeneland’s September yearling sale.
They’re hoping everything comes up roses.