Trainer Bob Baffert has been excluded from this year's Triple Crown series by virtue of a 90-day suspension (stemming from the 2021 edition Kentucky Derby), but his longtime friend and fellow Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas believes that fact won't change horsemen's perceptions of Derby hopefuls Taiba and Messier. The two colts, whose careers began in the Baffert shed row, are now conditioned by Tim Yakteen, a former assistant of Baffert's.
“I think no matter how those horses run, they'll be Bob's,” Lukas told the Courier-Journal this week. “Now, the general public, a lot of them, won't know the difference. (But) All the horse people will know they are Bob's.”
The transfer from Baffert to Yakteen's stable occurred on March 24, days after a Kentucky court denied Baffert's bid for a stay of the 90-day suspension issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
(Read more about the transfer to Yakteen here.)
(Read more about the Baffert court case here.)
Lukas said Baffert plans follow the orders of his suspension and not be involved with the day-to-day training of the top 3-year-olds, who ran first and second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby to earn their way into the Run for the Roses. However, Lukas does believe that Baffert gave Yakteen a blueprint on how to prepare horses for the Triple Crown series.
“I think he outlined it very carefully (to Yakteen),” Lukas told the Courier-Journal. “I think they had a crash course, for sure. So I think (Yakteen) will follow, I'll bet you, to the letter. He'd be crazy not to. You're talking about a guy who came in here every year with extreme power. I would guess that (Yakteen) is not going to make any decisions.”
Lukas also said he told Baffert it was unlikely the trainer would be able to overturn the penalties handed down by the KHRC, despite all of Baffert's legal maneuvers. When the Baffert-trained 2021 Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a controlled therapeutic medication, Lukas said he knew Baffert “would have a hell of a time overturning any of those judges.”
Read more at the Courier-Journal.
The post Lukas: ‘I Think No Matter How Those Horses Run, They’ll Be Bob’s’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
EXPRESS SPORT’s seventh edition of #SheCan will air on Wednesday.
Following Monday's confirmation stage, Godolphin's Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) appears to be the one to beat among 19 colts in Saturday's G1 Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Undefeated in five career starts, the recent G3 Craven S. winner is odds-on with some bookmakers to provide trainer Charlie Appleby with a first victory in the Rowley Mile Classic. Appleby will also be represented by Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who will be ridden by James Doyle.
Native Trail and Coroebus are among the top two choices for Saturday's feature in addition to unbeaten Group 1 winner Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who is one of three potential Ballydoyle representatives along with Glounthaune (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}).
Also included among this season's Classic contenders is Dubawi Legend (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was only two lengths behind Native Trail when runner-up in last year's G1 Dewhurst S. “His turn of foot and his change of gear is what's exciting about him,” said trainer Hugo Palmer, who won the 2000 Guineas six years ago with Galileo Gold. “On a rating of 115, he was the joint second highest-rated 2-year-old in Europe. Galileo Gold at the same stage was rated 110, so he is the best 2-year-old I've trained without a doubt.”
Tom Marquand has been booked to ride the colt.
In regard to his competition, Palmer added, “Native Trail beat a whole lot of maiden winners and horses that were 50-1 for the Guineas in the Craven. At the same time, I don't think William Buick had to hit him more than once and he beat them three and a half lengths and you don't know what was there.”
“I think it's going to be a pretty big field on Saturday. There's 19 left in and you don't stay in for free, so you must stay in with the thought of you're going to run.”
“I can't help but think a bigger field will hinder Native Trail as there'll be some non-stayers stopping in front of him. There'll be some non-stayers stopping in front of us as well, of course.”
Palmer recently moved from Newmarket to Cheshire to replace Tom Dascombe at the helm at Michael Owen's Manor House Stables.
Other contenders include Richard Fahey's Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}), who won two Group 1s last season and made a successful return in the G3 Greenham S. at Newbury Apr. 16.
The post Native Trail Heads 19 in 2000 Guineas appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
