Bob’s Game for another run
Off Triple Crown year, Baffert gets 3 good shots in Derby
LOUISVILLE — Knowing their favored horses won’t start the Kentucky Derby on the rail left Richard Mandella and Bob Baffert more relieved than happy.
What matters for the Hall of Fame trainers is turning workable starting spots into victory — and a long-sought celebration for Mandella.
Omaha Beach is the 4-1 early favorite for Saturday’s 145th Run for the Roses after drawing the No. 12 post position on Tuesday. That could be a good sign for the colt and Mandella, considering that the horse favored to win the Derby has taken the past six.
“I hope it comes out that way,” Mandell said.
Baffert-trained Game Winner is the 5-1 second choice from the No. 16 post in the 20-horse field for the first leg of the Triple Crown.
Game Winner will start inside stablemate Roadster, the 6-1 cothird choice with Improbable, a Baffert colt who will go off from the No. 5 hole in the 1¼mile race at Churchill Downs.
Omaha Beach enters the $3 million showcase on a three-race winning streak. The dark brown colt is coming off a one-length victory in the slop over Improbable in the Arkansas Derby, a race that demonstrated his recent knack for getting up front quickly and staying there.
Mandella believes Omaha Beach and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who won last year’s Derby for Baffert aboard Justify, will make the most of his spot.
“It’s really important if you get luck with it,” Mandella said. “If you get bad luck, a good post position doesn’t work.
“His last couple of races he kind of sits back and bides his time a little bit, then decides when to just cruise along. Mike will have to figure that out.”
Baffert, meanwhile, aims to match Ben Jones’ record with his sixth Derby win and second straight. He won the Triple Crown last year with Justify. That came three years after he took the Crown with American Pharoah.
It remains to be seen how the Derby will unfold hitting the first turn with so many horses vying for the same spot, but Improbable is in a relatively good spot.
Game Winner, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here last fall, and Roadster start from post positions that are a combined 4 for 87 in the Derby. When it was noted that Roadster’s No. 17 post is 0 for 40, nervous laughter grew in a crowded room of horsemen including Baffert, his connections and the media.
Baffert later took all of his horses’ slots in stride, if only because none was on the rail. War of Will drew that unenviable spot and was given 20-1 odds as a result.
“I like the 16 hole, it’s a good spot,” he said of Game Winner’s position. “Roadster, he’s out there. I don’t know. I always get two horses together. A lot of times in California they draw so … I’ll be watching those two leaving there.”
War of Will’s trainer, Mark Casse, chose to be encouraged about his horse’s post.
“It could be worse, I think,” he said of the horse who had a three-race winning streak halted in the Louisiana Derby. “Our horse is really on his game, so he’ll come away from there running.
“I think we’ll probably be on the lead and play catch me if you can. And you know, if we come away from there like he normally does, we’re going to come away from there running. … I’ve thought I had great draws before and gotten wiped out, so maybe this is the change.”