Life is full of choices and sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Trainer Bob Baffert did just that when he first came to Del Mar back in the early-1990s. It has proven to be the right move.
Baffert returns to Del Mar for his 35th season. He's enjoyed his share of success at the seaside oval where he holds the mark for the most wins by a trainer with 596 and the most stakes victories with 156. He's won the Del Mar Futurity (G1) a record 17 times, including the last two years, and the Pacific Classic (G1) six times.
But all of this never would have happened had the 70-year-old conditioner never took a leap of faith when he was first dabbling in Thoroughbred horses.
“I was still training Quarter Horses and I had a real good Quarter Horse to take to the All-American,” Baffert says. “But (trainer D. Wayne) Lukas told me if I wanted to succeed (in Thoroughbreds), I needed to get rid of all my Quarter Horses. I had to show I was all in. He said if I get rid of them my business will double because they don't like to see you doing both.”
Lukas would know. He had done the same thing years before.
“It was scary,” Baffert said, “because I was used to winning a lot of big Quarter Horse races. Two or three or four a week. Whereas here I was winning once every three months. At Santa Anita I ran last three times in a row.”
But then Baffert won three Cal-Cup races in 1991 and the rest is history.
“After that I went over to Los Alamitos and shut down my operation there,” Baffert said. “The last Quarter Horse race I won was with the son of my first winner at Los Alamitos.”
Now, two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, four Eclipse Awards, 18 Breeders' Cups victories and a Hall of Fame induction later he is one of the most successful Thoroughbred trainers ever and is looking to add to that record this summer at Del Mar.
He shared the trainers title at Del Mar last year with Philip D'Amato winning 19 times. It was his first title at the seaside oval since 2003 and it was bolstered by a top-class group of 2-year-olds. He hopes to do it again in 2023, but said it's all up to the horses.
“We just let them develop on their own,” Baffert said. “Some can win early. You just don't know until you run them. They come in waves for getting ready, so some will get ready right away, some it takes longer. We don't push them.”
Baffert said the objective is to get some races into them and find out how they want to run.
“The main thing is to get races into these 2-year-olds because we want to have as many as we can for the Futurity at the end, which gets you ready for the Breeders' Cup.”
He mentioned Muth and Prince of Monaco when asked about his 2-year olds. Both broke their maidens already. He's pointing the pair to the Best Pal (G3) at Del Mar August 13. His 2-year-old filly by Arrogate, Dua, broke her maiden Saturday at Del Mar.
As for his older horses, Baffert says Defunded, arguably the top handicap horse in the nation, is being pointed to the San Diego (G2) July 29 with the Pacific Classic being the long-term goal.
National Treasure and Reincarnate are on the grounds, but they have flight plans for upstate New York and the Travers (G1) at Saratoga. Arabian Lion has been nominated for the Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar also on July 29, but he may also head to Saratoga.
Baffert doesn't have a concrete plan yet for Cave Rock, Del Mar's top 2-year-old last year, and Speed Boat Beach, who set the record for 5½ furlongs at Del Mar last summer, has been turned out.
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