Tag: Bob Baffert

Undefeated Essential Quality makes his 3-year-old debut in Saturday's Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park. He's the 3/2 favorite in the Grade 3 Kentucky Derby prep. (Image: Oaklawn Park)

Southwest Stakes: Answering One Question Picks Your Winner

- 4 min read

From a betting standpoint, Saturday’s Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park lacks value. Do you want 3/2 Essential Quality or 8/5 Jackie’s Warrior? There are five other horses in the field, but this isn’t a rhetorical question. From a watching standpoint, the 1 1/16-mile Southwest lacks nothing. How can […]

Mishriff and David Egan pulled off a stand-up rally against Mike Smith and Charlatan to win the $20 million Saudi Cup. Charlatan's trainer, Bob Baffert, was pleased with his runner-up finish. (Image: Andrew Parker/Grosskick Racing)

Charlatan Comes Out of Gutsy Saudi Cup Finish Ready for More

- 3 min read

The day after Charlatan finished a game, but beaten, second to England’s Mishriff in the $20 million Saudi Cup, his trainer Bob Baffert gushed about what transpired on the other end of the world. “He ran a big race,” Baffert told Santa Anita Park’s Ed Golden on Sunday morning. “He […]

After winning January's Sham Stakes, Life Is Good attempts to follow Authentic's 2020 path to the Kentucky Derby. Like his Bob Baffert-trained forebear did last year, Life Is Good will run next at the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Baffert’s Next Move: One Derby Prospect Stays Home, One Hits Road

- 3 min read

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert began plotting his next moves for his deep bench of Kentucky Derby prospects, with the first move sending top prospect Life Is Good to the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Baffert’s second move sends Freedom Fighter across the country for […]

Mystic Guide comes into this weekend's Grade 3 Razorback Handicap with six in-the-money finishes. That includes his victory here in last summer's JIm Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Coglianese Photo)

Weekend Stakes Span the Globe From Saudi Arabia to California

- 4 min read

Looking at this weekend’s notable stakes races takes the eye halfway around the world to the $20 million Saudi Cup. Another look also takes the eye back to three races postponed from last weekend to this weekend – the Southwest Stakes, the Bayakoa Stakes, and the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn […]

Candy Man Rocket parlayed his Sam F. Davis Stakes victory into a spot on Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Future Wager's Pool 3. (Image: SV Photography)

New Entries, Same Favorites in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3

- 3 min read

Nine new offerings entered the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3 picture, but two familiar names continue holding court as the KDFW favorites. Essential Quality and Life Is Good opened as individual 8/1 morning-line favorites in the third of five KDFW pools. As expected, however, the overall favorite is “All […]

At 20/1, Dream Shake brought home a strong maiden victory over two heralded Bob Baffert horses. His Kentucky Derby futures odds plummeted as a result. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Kentucky Derby Futures: What Goes Down, Can Go Up

- 3 min read

One Bob Baffert charge watched his Kentucky Derby futures odds fall further this weekend, while another watched his rise to semi-realistic territory. Those were the two biggest takeaways coming out of a weekend that further defined the Derby picture across the odds food chain. The prime beneficiary was Baffert’s Concert […]

Bob Baffert trains Bezos, which is all Derby futures bettors need to hear. The colt makes his anticipated debut today at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Siena Farm)

Amazonian Favorite Bezos Makes Anticipated Debut Today

- 3 min read

Bezos makes his debut today in a maiden special weight race on Santa Anita Park’s Super Bowl Sunday card. This is hardly the class of race guaranteed to suck the oxygen out of the room on the biggest sporting day on the American calendar. In horseracing, however, today’s fifth race […]

Between them, Todd Pletcher (left) and Bob Baffert own eight Kentucky Derby victories. Pletcher (45) and Baffert (23) have the most Triple Crown early nominated horses for 2021. (Image: Doug Engle/AP File)

Essential Quality Leads 326-Strong Triple Crown Nomination Parade

- 3 min read

Getting your horse a Triple Crown nomination used to be so simple that connections to this year’s 3-year-old hopefuls nominated 326 horses to compete in the three American Classic races this spring. Those 326 nominations represent a slight, 6.1% dip from last year’s 347 early nominees. Those connections paid $600 […]

Gamine, seen here winning the Test Stakes last summer, forfeited her third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks after her second positive drug test. (Image: Coglianese Photo/HYRA)

Champion Sprinter Gamine Disqualified from Kentucky Oaks

- 3 min read

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission formally disqualified Gamine from the 2020 Kentucky Oaks after the Bob Baffert charge tested positive for betamethasone. Along with that, the commission fined Baffert $1,500. As a result of the Jan. 30 ruling, posted on the KHRC website, Gamine forfeits the $120,000 she earned for […]

Knicks Go brings a four-race winning streak into the $20 million Saudi Cup. (Image: Coady Photography/Keeneland)

Saudi Cup Connections Exempt from COVID Ban; Knicks Go a Go

- 3 min read

As the Saudi Cup field takes shape, the Saudi Arabian government announced connections for the $20 million race participants will be exempt from the country’s ban on entering Saudi Arabia. Citing COVID-19 concerns, the country banned entry to residents of 20 nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom. […]

Tarantino, seen here in an October workout, finished a solid second in the Grade 3 Holy Bull. That earned him a prominent odds cut on this week's Kentucky Derby futures boards. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Derby Futures: Tarantino Shows Even Reservoir Dogs Have Their Day

- 3 min read

It wasn’t a case of pulp fiction that Tarantino was sitting at 225/1 when he debuted on the Circa Sports and William Hill Nevada Kentucky Derby futures boards last week. Even the Jackie Browns and Inglorious Basterds of the world stared juicy odds in the face before Tarantino entered the […]

Known Agenda (inside) beat Greatest Honour in this November maiden special weight at Aqueduct. He returns to Derby prep action this weekend in the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. (Image: Coglianese Photo)

Weekend Stakes: Not Every Good 3-Year-Old Race is a Derby Prep

- 4 min read

We’ll see several Kentucky Derby hopefuls return this weekend when two East Coast Grade 3 Derby preps headline the stakes races. And, we’ll meet some Kentucky Oaks contenders in two Oaks preps – one on each coast. At the same time, we’ll see a Grade 2 for 3-year-olds that isn’t […]

Hot Rod Charlie is one of two Doug O'Neill horses in the Saturday's Robert B. Lewis field. He's seeking a repeat of his out-of-nowhere second as a 94/1 longshot in the Breeders' Cup Classic. (Image: Horsephotos)

Lewis Stakes Recount Historic Horses, Revive Current Rivalries

- 4 min read

In 2012, little-known 43/1 long shot I’ll Have Another won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park. This feat drew mild murmurs and a few curious looks throughout the horseracing world. After all, the Doug O’Neill-trained colt came into the Lewis off a horrible sixth in the Hopeful […]

Authentic carried jockey John Velazquez to a Kentucky Derby title in September and his connections to an Eclipse Award as 2020 Horse of the Year. (Image: Gregory Shamus/Getty)

Authentic Runs Away With 2020 Horse of the Year Eclipse Award

- 5 min read

Authentic rarely won his big races by big margins. But, he won his final “race” – the Eclipse Award for 2020 Horse of the Year – by a Secretariat at the Belmont-esque 31 lengths on the track. The Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion garnered 224 out of a […]

Santa Anita canceled Friday's racing card due to expected showers. The Southern California track will make up the races next week. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Santa Anita Scratches Friday’s Card Due to Expected Downpour

- 2 min read

Citing a major winter storm expected this weekend, Santa Anita Park canceled its Friday racing card. The Southern California track announced the move Tuesday morning. Track officials announced that two turf stakes, the Grade 2 San Marcos on Saturday and Sunday’s Black-Type $75,000 Baffle, will move to next week. The […]

If Knicks Go gets an unchallenged lead like he did in blitzing the field ini the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, the Pegasus World Cup will be over in short order. The 5-year-old is the 5/2 favorite in the $3 million race. (Image: Coady Photography/Keeneland)

Without Baffert, Knicks Go’s Fast Break Makes Him Pegasus Favorite

- 5 min read

If horses run in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational and Bob Baffert doesn’t train any of them, does it really happen? We’re about to find out what the richest dirt race for older horses in North America – non-Breeders’ Cup division – looks like without the preeminent dirt trainer of […]

Lecomte Stakes winner Midnight Bourbon opens at 30/1 in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2. (Image: Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography)

The Field is Your Favorite in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2

- 3 min read

While Life Is Good yielded his favorite status in at least one Las Vegas future book, he holds down 6/1 individual favorite status in Pool 2 of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pool. At the same time, the Derby field of “All Other 3-Year-Olds” is the overall 9/5 […]

1 … 5 6 7 8 9 … 12