Baffert is ‘looking forward’ to Del Mar after 90-day suspension

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, fresh off a 90-day suspension stemming from Medina Spirit’s positive medication test after the 2021 Kentucky Derby, is back and raring to go as Del Mar begins its 83rd summer meet

Friday.

The 69-year-old Baffert said during a phone interview with the Southern California News Group this week that it was the longest 90 days of his life.

“The first 45 days, it seemed like forever,” he said. “I never take vacations. I still owe my wife a honeymoon, but my wife ... she called it Bobbysitting. She got me working out, took care of my health. So I’ve got a fresh mind, ready to roll, a lot of energy. I’m just looking forward to it.”

Baffert returned July 3. He said he watched little horse racing during his time away and attended a few horse sales. He said he’s looking forward to Del Mar’s 31-day meet that concludes Sept. 11. He thinks he has a good crop of 2-year-olds and, of course, trains one of the country’s top older horses in Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer.

“I really missed all my employees, the families, the horses,” Baffert said. “I love what I do and I’ve never been away that long. It was tough. I missed a lot of people, but I’m glad to be back and looking ahead, looking forward. It’s all behind me now.”

All behind but the litigation that still is in limbo. Baffert can’t talk about most of what’s gone on during the past 14 months, but he said he never contemplated retirement during this whole ordeal.

“That never crossed my mind,” he said. “I thought we just gotta get through this. I never thought I’d be doing a 90-day suspension, that was the hardest thing. But you gotta do it. I’m just fortunate that Sean McCarthy, Jimmy Barnes (Baffert’s longtime assistant) and Tim Yakteen, they kept it together. They did a great job. They did well without me and it really made me feel like ... I’m always afraid to take a week off and go somewhere, but now I can do it.”

The time away from the track, as painful as it was, allowed Baffert to recharge his battery and step away from the hectic life of a trainer for three months.

“It was peaceful, nobody called me and I had no bad news,” he said. “As a horse trainer, every day you look to get bad news, a horse is sick or something’s going on. I didn’t have any of that stress. So it was really stress free for like 90 days.”

Baffert lost standout horses like Life Is Good and Corniche, both now in the Todd Pletcher barn, but otherwise most of his owners stayed with him.

“They were solid,” he said. “I have some really loyal owners. They stuck with me and they rode it out. It was tough on them. I had some that were very frustrated by the process, that I had to go through this. My clients are my friends, and we couldn’t talk about the horses. I talked about going to sales and stuff like that, but other than that I missed talking to them.”

Despite staying away from TV most of the time, Baffert did watch the Kentucky Derby when two of his horses handled by Yakteen, Taiba (12th-place finish) and Messier (15th), struggled home.

“I was nervous. I always get nervous when I watch the Derby, even if I don’t have a horse in it,” he said. “I know what they’re going through ... it’s so exciting. The Derby is exciting to watch. I wasn’t upset or anything. I just watched it as a fan. The pace was wicked. It was like a stampede away from there. Once I saw that ... I thought Messier would run better than that. It wasn’t the jockey’s fault or anything.

“I talked to Mike Smith (Taiba’s jockey) recently and he told me he knew they were going really fast and he knew the first group of horses were not going to win the race. But that’s the Derby. It’s crazy when you have 20 horses and everything has to go right. Taiba, it was asking a lot, and he wasn’t ready for it.”

Baffert said he holds no bitterness over what arguably has been the toughest period of his career.

“I was disappointed, sorta surprised by the industry,” he said. “Racing has given me a lot, but

I’ve put in a lot to promote the sport. At the end of the day, I’m still going to promote horse racing. I love horse racing. I never look back. You gotta look forward. If you let it, it will make you bitter. I don’t let it get to me. It was tough on my family

... we’re just dealing with the process right now.”