Bob Baffert is planning to watch the Derby from his couch

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bob Baffert went from thinking he could win a fifth Kentucky Derby to being out of it in the space of a few seconds.

Once Mastery got hurt after winning a prep race this winter, Baffert no longer had a horse for the first Saturday in May. It was a huge blow to a trainer who’s missed the Derby just twice since 2009 and whose four victories are tied for second-most in history.

Mastery won the San Felipe Stakes by 6¾ lengths at Santa Anita, and Baffert made his way to the winner’s circle believing the colt was “the second coming” of his Triple Crown champion American Pharoah.

“We were so excited,” he said Tuesday. “I had taken my time with him. I wanted him ready for all three races.”

But just past the finish line, Mastery took a bad step and sustained a condylar fracture, a common injury among thoroughbreds.

The colt had screws inserted in his left front ankle and is recovering.

“It’s a part of the game that gets really bitter,” Baffert said. “It gets you so upset. It can be so cruel.”

Now there’s no need for metal barriers to keep back crowds outside Baffert’s barn on the backstretch at Churchill Downs. All the pre-Derby hustle and bustle is going on elsewhere in the stable area. No media hordes waiting for a few bon mots from the white-haired trainer.

That’s what happens when you’re an observer and not a participant in America’s greatest race.

Don’t think it doesn’t bother him.

“I’m just trying to get there again,” he said. “I want another shot at it with an American Pharoah (foal). His babies look really good.”

In 2015, American Pharoah swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont for the sport’s first Triple Crown victory in 37 years. The horse retired later that year and is now busy producing offspring that Baffert hopes follow in their sire’s hoof prints.