Assistant is an asset
Hall of fame trainer Baffert knows horses in good hands with Barnes.
HOT SPRINGS — When the stars from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s California barn come out at Oaklawn, his assistant Jim Barnes is with them.
Baffert stays home, an arrangement that usually works out well. It did Saturday when horses from Baffert’s barn won both divisions of the Grade I $500,000 11/8-mile Arkansas Derby on the final day of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort’s 2020 season.
Barnes oversaw the new champions, quartered for the week less than a quarter mile southeast of the racetrack’s first turn in the barn run by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
“Jimmy knows the way it works,” Baffert said. “He knows the routine just to keep them happy. He thinks of every scenario thrown at you, and so that’s the key thing. He knows the horses well and what I think and what we’re going to do with them. We go over the night before what we’re going to do with them, and I don’t have to worry about it.”
With Martin Garcia aboard, Charlatan’s front-running victory in the Arkansas Derby’s first division started the sweep completed an hour later when Nadal took the lead at the top of the stretch and pulled
away under jockey Joel Rosario to win the second division.
Each division offered 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, which make Charlatan and Nadal almost certain locks for a spot in Churchill Downs’ 20-stall Derby starting gate.
Baffert said he knows horses are in good hands with Barnes.
“With Jimmy, I never have to worry about them,” Baffert said. “It’s like me being there.”
Many familiar with Barnes use Jimmy as his given name, though he introduces himself as Jim.
Barnes, 60, is a licensed trainer who, even as an assistant to Baffert, maintained a short string of starters from 2001-10 with a notable level of success. His career record stands at 66-56-32 in 262 starts, good for a win rate of 25.2%.
Barnes said the opportunity to work with horses like Saturday’s Arkansas Derby winners makes his role with Baffert worthwhile.
“I like being an assistant at this level,” Barnes said. “I enjoy dealing with the quality of the horse at this level, you know, Triple Crown racing, Breeders’ Cup racing, World Cup, the Pegasus, we’re involved in all of them. I would have a tough time walking away from that. It keeps my adrenaline going.”
Baffert, 67, said last week that he has recently considered the possibility of moving his stable out of California because of racing opportunities limited by state regulations and multiple recent defections by horsemen.
“These next couple weeks, if Santa Anita doesn’t open up soon, it’s going to be hard to get those horses to come back,” Baffert told Vegas Stats and Information Network. “I’m going to stay here in California, but eventually if there’s nobody to run against it’s going to be tough. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Barnes spoke Thursday from Oaklawn and said a move east might become necessary.
“We’re ready for whatever we need to do if we move to Kentucky, and if we move to wherever we need to go,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll be able to stay a few more years in California. I mean, I have no idea. If we have to move, we’ll move. I’m old enough that my children are grown. If I had to uproot and go back to Kentucky or come to Oaklawn, it would be no problem for me.”
However, Santa Anita Park, which has stopped racing multiple times for racetrack safety issues and this spring’s coronavirus pandemic, is currently scheduled to restart its 2020 season on May 15.
“That’s a last resort,” Baffert told Southern California News Group on Friday. “It’s either retire or leave California, and I think I’d rather retire. I can’t picture myself anywhere else.”