Disgraced and decorated, Bob Baffert is back at Churchill Downs this week ahead of the 151st Kentucky Derby with a tale to tell.
With a a three-year suspension in the rearview mirror — stemming from 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit testing positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone — Baffert returned to the horse racing spotlight hoping to author another chapter in a complicated legacy.
“Everyone’s been really nice to me,” Baffert said of his reception from other trainers and horsemen. “They say they are happy to see me, and I’m happy to be back.”
Morning line favorite Journalism, who has 3-1 odds out of the No. 8 position, is the deserving favorite according to the 72-year-old trainer.
With a pair of entries in the first leg of the Triple Crown to be run Saturday night in Kentucky, the draw wasn’t the reception he’d hoped to receive.
Citizen Bull (12-1), which was expected to be the trainer’s best chance at a strong finish, drew the dreaded No. 1 position.
“I wish I had a challenge flag. If I had it, I would have thrown it,” Baffert said.
Citizen Bull, winner of the Eclipse Award as the top 2-year-old in 2024, was the fastest of the 15 horses worked out at Churchill Downs on Monday with six furlongs in 1:12.40.
A six-time Derby-winning trainer with two Triple Crown winners on his resume, Baffert can break the tie with Ben Jones with his seventh victory this week. He has been actively running horses during the Churchill Downs suspension lifted in November, when he forfeited his legal fight against the ban, and winning.
To get a 17th win in a Triple Crown race this week, Baffert appears to have come to the realization it might be up to Rodriguez, winner of the Wood Memorial who drew the No. 4 position. Mike Smith, vying to become the oldest jockey to win the Derby at 58, will be aboard and said he is pushing to get Baffert back in the Winner’s Circle. Smith was Baffert’s jockey piloting Justify to the Triple Crown in 2018 when he became the oldest to complete that feat — at age 52.
Smith said he told Baffert he was just “sitting here on the bench quietly … waiting for you to put me in” when the decision finally came.
“You got him if you want him,” Baffert told Smith.
American Promise, son of Justify, also worked out Monday before returning to trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ barn. The Virginia Derby winner has generated a lot of buzz since his last outing. He has easily run the Derby distance and beyond, and Lukas stressed stamina is a decided strength.
“That is a big plus not to have to worry about anything,” Lukas said of the colt with 30-1 odds.
–Field Level Media
