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Bob Baffert
Derby Trainer Profile
4/28/10
Bob Baffert has done just about everything you could hope to do as a trainer. He
has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer three times in 1997, 1998, and
1999. He has won an amazing seven Breeder’s Cup races winning the BC Sprint
three times, the BC Juvenile twice and the BC Juvenile Fillies twice. He even
has had great success in international racing winning the world’s richest race
the Dubai World Cup twice, but the one thing that Big Race Bob will be
remembered for is his success and heartbreaks in the Triple Crown.
Bob Baffert made the switch from quarter horses to thoroughbreds in 1991, and by
1996 he had his first Derby starter. Since 1996 he has saddled 18 horses in the
Run for the Roses winning it three times with Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet
in 1998, and War Emblem in 2002. He also has two 2nd place finishes with
Cavonnier in 1996 and Pioneerof the Nile in 2009, and two 3rd place finishes
with Indian Charlie in 1998 and Congaree in 2001. He had incredible success from
the start in 1996 to 2002 where he got his last win. In that stretch he had at
least one starter in the Derby every year and saddled 12 horses. His record with
those 12 is 3 wins 1 place and 2 shows. Not only that, he only had two horses in
that span that didn’t finish in the top half of the Derby. Since 2002 he has not
had the same type of success.
Besides Pioneer of the Nile and his 2nd place finish his best finish was 9th
in 2006 with Point Determined, and he also missed the Derby 3 times. (2004,
2007, 2008) For whatever reason he hasn’t had the same type of success in the
2nd half of his Derby career that he had in the 1st half. One factor that played
a role in his struggles is he lost two of his top owners in Bob Lewis and Prince
Ahmed bin Salman (Thoroughbred Corp) who both passed away. Baffert seems like he
has his stable reloaded, and if Pioneerof the Nile’s Derby performance and
Looking At Lucky’s performance leading up to this year’s Derby is any indication
for what’s to come it looks like Baffert is going to once again be a force in
the Kentucky Derby.
There is no one better then Bob Baffert when it comes to knowing what it takes
to get a young 3 yr old ready for the Kentucky Derby, and once again he has done
a great job getting his two colts ready for the first Saturday in May.
Conveyance is a son of Indian Charlie, who Baffert saddled in the Derby back in
1998, and much like his sire he has good early speed, but also it looks like he
is going to have his sire’s distance limitations also. In the 1998 Derby Indian
Charlie was the one coming into the Derby with all the hype after just winning
the Santa Anita Derby. He ended up being the favorite in the race, but it was
Baffert’s other horse Real Quiet who got the job done that year.
Fast forward to 2010 its Looking At Lucky who is coming in with all the hype
and should be the post time favorite and Conveyance is the one getting
overlooked. Could history repeat itself this year for the Baffert stable? It is
the Derby so anything is possible, but it looks more likely that Conveyance job
will be to ensure a hot early pace for the “Franchise” horse in the Baffert
barn. (Although if we do see history repeat itself it’s only fitting that it
would be a son of Indian Charlie who does it.)
Baffert has had the Kentucky Derby in the back of his mind for Looking At Lucky
for a very long time, and he has trained him accordingly. If you look back at
Baffert’s Derby winners he has trained them all the same. He understands that
the Triple Crown is the main goal so he sets his horses up to come into the
Kentucky Derby ready for a peak performance. Both Real Quiet and Looking At
Lucky had extensive 2 yr old campaigns and then had two major preps before the
Derby. Real Quiet used the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby and Looking At Lucky
used the Rebel and the Santa Anita Derby. Silver Charm was only able to get
three starts as a 2 yr old, so Baffert gave him a start going 7 furlongs in the
San Vicente before his two major preps the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby.
Another similarity that helps explain Baffert’s training methods for getting his
horses ready for a peak effort is his horses performances in their final preps.
All three horses lost in their final prep race the Santa Anita Derby, but both
Real Quiet and Silver Charm used that effort to move forward and capture the
Kentucky Derby.
We believe there is a reason why Baffert has been so excited about Lookin At
Lucky since early in his 2 yr old season, and it’s because he sees another Real
Quiet or Silver Charm when he watches Lookin At Lucky. Baffert has not had the
same success recently in the Kentucky Derby that he did early in his career, but
it looks like things are starting to move in the right direction. Just like
losing that first Derby by a nose to Grindstone made him hungry to get back to
the Derby to win it, we believe that cold streak he had starting in 2003 has
made him hungrier to get back to where he was in the peak of his Triple Crown
career. If history has shown us one thing its that when Baffert has a horse in
the Derby you better pay attention to it, and when he suffers a heartbreak in
his career it is usually followed by a triumph.