Baffert colt sets course record of 1:59.36

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> The word should have been out after Drefong went virtually gate to wire in the King’s Bishop: Beware of California speed horses trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith.

Three races later, Arrogate, another Baffert & Smith product dismissed at 11-1, tore out of the starting gate and into the history books. The lightly raced colt, making his stakes debut, proceeded to run the other dozen 3-year-olds off their feet, ticking off quarter-mile splits of :23.23, :23.61, :24.01, :24.67 and finishing up the 1¼ miles in a remarkable :23.84.

That adds up to 1 minute, 59.36 seconds, a clocking that shattered the existing track and stakes record of 2:00 flat established by General Assembly in the 1979 Travers. Thirty-seven years ago.

“He looks so much like his father,” Smith said, referring to Unbridled’s Song, who Smith also rode. “(Unbridled’s Song) was an unbelievably talented horse, and his son might be even more talented. It’s crazy. He just did a mile-and-a-quarter, and as you can see galloping out, I had trouble getting him to stop.”

Arrogate increased his lead at every pole. After a mile he was ahead by two lengths. It was 7½

at the eighth pole and 13½ at the finish. The margin was the third-biggest in Travers history, trailing only Damascus (22 lengths in 1967) and General Assembly (15 in 1979).

For the record, American Freedom — another Baffert trainee but ridden by Rafael Bejarano — finished second, a length and a half ahead of Gun Runner. Gift Box was another 3 ¾ back in fourth. The also-rans were Governor Malibu, Connect, Creator, My Man Sam, Destin, Forever d’Oro, Exaggerator (the 5-2 favorite), Laoban and Anaximandros.

For Baffert, the result took some of the sting out of American Pharoah’s upset at the hands of Keen Ice in last year’s Mid-Summer Derby.

“I was hoping he could do something like this,” Baffert said of Arrogate. “We’ve hit a lot of empty spots here, but this one, he looks like he’s the real deal. My horses both ran great races, and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, Prince [Khalid Abdullah], thank you, Garrett O’Rourke (also of Juddmonte Farms). To win for Juddmonte, a race like the Travers, that’s big for me.

“When I walked in today, you could feel the electricity in the air,” Baffert added. “When my wife said, ‘look at all the people,’ I said, ‘I hope we’re not going to stink it up today.’”

Needless to say, it didn’t happen.

Arrogate improves to 4-0-1 in five starts with total earnings of $784,600. His only loss came in his debut at Los Alamitos on April 17. Arrogate was unraced at two.

The biggest disappointment was Exaggerator, who more than ever will be seen as a horse who only excels on less-thanfast ground. The Preakness/Haskell/Santa Anita Derby winner fell back early and was never really in it.

“(Jockey Kent Desormeaux) said he got bumped a little, but other than that we had the trip we wanted,” said Keith Desormeaux, Exaggerator’s trainer. “Other than that, no excuses.”

“We ran into a freak today,” offered Steve Asmussen, who sent out Gun Runner (third) and Creator (seventh). “I honestly thought 2:02 would win the race.”

The last word goes to Eric Guillot, trainer of Laoban, 27-1 upset winner of the Jim Dandy who was dispatched at 18-1 in the Travers. The Uncle Mo colt was involved early, but was all done by the time he reached the stretch, eventually checking in 12th.

“I think Baffert has 150 of the best-bred horses in the world,” said Guillot. “There will be five of them you can’t outrun every year. (Laoban) was too fresh.”

Arrogate paid $25.40 as the 11-1 eighth choice. The exacta with American Freedom was worth $134.50.

Baffert said he had no immediate plans for Arrogate. The plan had been to run in the Travers, but that was as far as he’d thought ahead.

“I was hoping he could do something like this. We’ve hit a lot of empty spots here, but this one, he looks like he’s the real deal. My horses both ran great races, and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, Prince [Khalid Abdullah], thank you, Garrett O’Rourke (also of Juddmonte Farms). To win for Juddmonte, a race like the Travers, that’s big for me.” — Bob Baffert, trainer