Baffert goes for 4th in row
No Breeders’ Cup participant has won the same race four years in a row, but trainer Bob Baffert will have four chances to do it in the $6 million Classic on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.
Baffert pre-entered five horses for the Classic, but Cupid will run instead in the $1 million Dirt Mile on Nov. 3, leaving him with defending champion Arrogate, Collected, West Coast and Mubtaahij.
“I just feel fortunate that I have so many nice horses,” Baffert said on a conference call Wednesday. “I’ve never had so many older horses before. Our barn has always been set up to play at this level, and we’re fortunate that our horses are healthy and doing well and I have the clientele that helps make it happen.”
Baffert won the Classic with Bayern in 2014, Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in 2015 and Arrogate in 2016. But before that trifecta, he was 0-for-24 in Breeders’ Cup races at a mile or longer with non-2year-olds.
“Silver Charm was second in a really tough Classic (1998) and we could have won that one,” Baffert said. “The other years, I wasn’t really armed like I have been. Bayern came off a big win over California Chrome, American Pharoah was a great horse, and Arrogate came off that big Travers Stakes. I haven’t won it with a slow horse. Through the years, I think I’ve just gotten better dealing with things. I think I’ve become a better manager at it.”
Arrogate was about to be considered one of the greatest horses of all time when he overcame a terrible start to win the Dubai World Cup for his seventh straight victory. But after a break, he finished a distant fourth in the San Diego Handicap and a close-up second to Collected in the Pacific Classic.
Collected has won four straight races and six of his past seven; West Coast, Baffert’s only 3-year-old in the Classic, has won five straight; and Mubtaahij won the Awesome Again Stakes in his first start for the trainer.
The four horses have different owners.
“My clients are used to me having multiple entries,” Baffert said. “The owners are just happy to have a horse at that level. There’s no juggling. We get them ready and we load them up and may the best horse win.”
The main competition for the Baffert contingent is Gun Runner, who has won five of his past six races and has been particularly brilliant in three Grade 1 wins following his second-place finish to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup. He took the Stephen Foster Handicap by 7 lengths, the Whitney Stakes by 5¼ and the Woodward Stakes by 10.
“What’s happened since the World Cup has been surprising to a lot of people, and we’re very excited by what he has turned into,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “The way he’s running and as fast as he’s running gives us an opportunity to get the job done.”
Baffert knows that even quality and quantity don’t guarantee success in an event like the Classic.
“You need racing luck,” he said. “You need a good post, need to break well and need the jockey to have a good day. Make sure that when they ask them, they have horse.”