Baffert dominates with two victories
Trainer Bob Baffert has won the Kentucky Derby five times, and his past two winners — American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 — also swept the Triple Crown.
If Friday’s races at Churchill Downs — the site of the Kentucky Derby — are any indication, Baffert will be loaded again in 2019.
Not only did undefeated Game Winner live up to his name by overcoming a wide trip to take the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but Improbable dominated the $100,000 Street Sense Stakes on the undercard.
The even-money favorite ridden by Joel Rosario, Game Winner rallied past 40-1 shot Knicks Go to win the Juvenile by 2¼ lengths in 1:43.67 on a “fast” main track.
“I was really looking forward to this colt, and he was much the best,” Baffert said. “I felt more pressure because I told the owners (Gary and Mary West) before the race that I really didn’t think they could beat us. He likes Churchill Downs, that’s a good sign. We’ve just got to keep him healthy.”
Game Winner won his three previous starts in Southern California.
Improbable won his debut by a neck going 6 furlongs Sept. 29 at Santa Anita and took the 1-mile Street Sense Stakes by 7¼ lengths in 1:35.61 as the 9-10 favorite.
Game Winner passed the 1-mile mark in 1:37.05 in the Juvenile in which the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Gunmetal Gray and Dueling finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Bulletin ($10.60) began the Breeders’ Cup races with a wire-to-wire victory by 2¼ lengths in the inaugural $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Javier Castellano, Bulletin became the first horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race with just one prior start. Bulletin also went wire-to-wire in his debut: a 7-length domination of the Hollywood Beach Stakes on Sept. 29 at Gulfstream Park.
Newspaper of record also led from the start and won the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf by 6¾ lengths to give trainer Chad Brown his fifth victory in the 11-year history of the race.
Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., 3-5 favorite Newspaper of record ran 1 mile in 1:39.00 for her third win in three starts — all by at least 6½ lengths.
Jaywalk ($13) became the third straight wire-to-wire winner when she took the $2 million Juvenile Fillies by 5½ lengths to set up an interesting dilemma in regard to voting for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old filly.
The vote historically has gone to a dirt horse like Jaywalk, who has won four of five starts. Ridden by Rosario, she took Friday’s 11⁄16-mile race in 1:43.62, but there will be a lot of Eclipse support for Newspaper of record.
The male turf 2-year-olds weren’t nearly as impressive as Newspaper of record because European Line of Duty rallied to beat Uncle Benny by a halflength in 1:40.06 in the $1 million Juvenile Turf.
Line of Duty ($9) collected his third win in five starts along with two seconds, and he gave trainer Charles Appleby his third Breeders’ Cup victory with just his fifth starter.
King of Speed, trained by Jeff Bonde, ran far behind throughout and finished 12th in the field of 14.