Baffert goes for record without valued assistant

Each time Bob Baffert won a big race over the last two decades with assistant Jimmy Barnes by his side, the two would share a moment and embrace.

“We give each other a big hug like, ‘We did it,’ ” Baffert said.

When Authentic won the Kentucky Derby, that wasn’t possible. Baffert’s other Derby horse, Thousand Words, reared up and broke Barnes’ right wrist, so he was in an ambulance during the race.

As soon as Baffert got to the hospital room, Barnes — his arm bandaged up and doctors around him— flashed a big smile and said to him, “We did it!” Four weeks later, Baffert is aiming to win a recordbreaking eighth Preakness Stakes this Saturday with Authentic or Thousand Words while his righthand manwatches in California.

“He’s such a big part of the operation,” Baffert said . “I talk to him eight times a day.”

Baffert had already won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness twice when Barnes started working for him in the second half of 1998. They’ve since combined to with the Derby three more times, Preakness five more and added three victories in the Belmont, including American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 to capture the Triple Crown.

Barnes is back working in limited fashion with nine screws and a plate in his right wrist and hopes to be at the Breeders’ Cup Nov. 6-7, but Baffert said after this accident and a broken pelvis in 2017 that Barnes’ days riding a pony are over.