Bob Baffert | Horse Racing Free Tips

Baffert Back To Business In Juvenile Stakes At Del Mar

It may be easier for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to decompress and recover from last week's Breeders' Cup World Championships than the majority of Del Mar racing fans.

Last Saturday, Baffert was busy with five horses to saddle in four Breeders' Cup races. It began with Gamine finishing third as the 2/5 favorite in the Filly & Mare Sprint and continued with Eight Rings (4th) in the Dirt Mile, As Time Goes By (8th), and Private Mission (11th) in the Distaff and concluded with Medina Spirit (2nd) in the Classic at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

A day earlier his Corniche had triumphed in the Juvenile with Del Mar Futurity winner Pinehurst (5th) and Barossa (9th).

A lot to get the adrenaline flowing in a 68-year-old, even one of his experience and accomplishments. But, Baffert said, recovery time from the rigors of the Breeders' Cup was minimal for him.

“As soon as it goes official, I'm thinking about the next one (race or event),” Baffert said. “I'm proud of all my horses other than Gamine and I blame myself for that. I should have given her a prep race.”

Gamine came in with five straight graded stakes victories by a combined 23 ½ lengths, but hadn't raced since late August.

He considered Private Mission, winner of the Torrey Pines Stakes here during the summer meeting, and As Time Goes By to be victims of circumstance.

Private Mission, As Time Goes By and favored Letruska blazed early before occupying three of the last four finishing positions as longshot Marche Lorraine ($101.80) rallied to win.

“We thought nobody would go with Private Mission, and then they all did,” Baffert said.

The Breeders' Cup ended on something of a high note for Baffert when Kentucky Derby winner (pending a Kentucky Racing Commission ruling) Medina Spirit finished second to runaway winner Knicks Go, polishing off a strong case for an Eclipse Award as the top 3-year-old.

This weekend, it will be back to business as usual for Baffert. That is, looming large over and being positioned to dominate Juvenile stakes races. Baffert will saddle 6/5 morning line favorite Eda and Under the Stars in a field of five for Saturday's $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies. Sunday, he has three of the five entered, not coincidentally the top three choices on the morning line, in the seven furlong Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes – Winning Map (7/5), Messier (8/5), and Kamui (5/2).

First the fillies:

“Under the Stars is a maiden (0-for-1) but she ran well the first time out and we feel she fits in there,” Baffert said. “It's a short field and an opportunity to get black type (stakes placing) on her record.

“Eda we think will like that distance.”

Eda, runner-up by a head to Elm Drive in the six-furlong G2 Sorrento Stakes in August, was the 6/5 favorite in the $300,000 G1 Del Mar Debutante on September 5. But Eda was cooked in a speed duel with Elm Drive which saw them put up fractions of :21.78 and :44.37 for the first half-mile of the seven-furlong test and fade to fifth.

“They went so fast (in the Debutante) that everything fell apart, which happens,” Baffert said with a chuckle and nod to Gamine as well as the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.

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Now the colts in the Bob Hope:

“I hate to run them all together, but they're all doing well and deserve a shot,” the trainer offered.

Winning Map debuted with a 4 1/4-length victory in 1:10.20 for six furlongs at Santa Anita on October 3. Messier, is named after NHL Hall of Famer Mark Messier. Messier was a teammate of the Empire Maker colt's co-owner Tom Ryan's father-in-law, Pat Hughes, along with the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr on those legendary Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980s.

Messier finished second in his first start on June 27 at Los Alamitos and came back on October 22 to win by 6 ½ lengths, matching the time over the same distance that Winning Map had produced three weeks earlier.

“We're taking the blinkers off Messier,” Baffert said. “He's not as quick as the others, but we think it's a good spot for him at a distance he'll like.”

Kamui was beaten a half-length by fellow Hope entrant Forbidden Kingdom at Del Mar on August 21 and came back to score by six lengths in a 5 ½-furlong sprint at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on September 11.

The field for the Bob Hope from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Messier (Flavien Prat, 8/5); Kamui (Abel Cedillo, 5/2); Winning Map (Mike Smith, 7/5); Rock N Rye (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1), and Forbidden Kingdom (Juan Hernandez, 9/2).

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Eda Rolls In Desi Arnaz At Del Mar

Eda had no trouble with a short field of four others in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. She pressed her pace-setting stablemate Under the Stars, took the lead coming out of the far turn, and drew away in the stretch to win by 4 1/4 lengths.

Coming into the Desi Arnaz, the 2-year-old daughter of Munnings had two victories in her previous four starts, including a last-out win in the Anoakia at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on Oct. 24. In Saturday's stakes, the Bob Baffert trainee took up position just off stablemate Under the Stars, who held a half-length advantage into the far turn.

Coming into the Del Mar stretch, Eda took over the lead, with Tonito's looming on her outside. The Doug O'Neill trainee challenged briefly, but Eda was too much for her, pulling away to win easily. Under the Stars was third, with Lady T, who had an awkward trip after veering toward the rail early in the race, and Endless Thirst rounding out the field.

The final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:15.53. Find this race's chart here.

Eda paid $2.40, $2.20, and $2.10. Tonito's paid $5.00 and $3.80. Under the Stars paid $2.40.

“She broke well and had good speed. When we turned for home and a horse came up outside us, I shook her up. Then she responded with a good kick,” jockey Flavien Prat said after the race.

“Actually, (Flavien) Prat thought this was the best race she has run. I really thought she relaxed well. I thought my other horse (Under the Stars) was going to be farther back but she broke well and maybe I had her a little too sharp. It was kind of a last minute decision to run Eda here because we also plan to run her back in the Starlet but I loved the way she was able to relax and then kick away clear. Prat doesn't say much, but he was really impressed with her,” Baffert told the Del Mar Press Office after the Desi Arnaz.

Bred in Kentucky by Nathan McCauley, Eda is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Show Me. She is owned by Baoma Corporation. The 2-year-old filly was consigned by Eddie Woods and purchased by Donato Lanni, agent, for $550,000 at the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company March Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training. With her win in the Desi Arnaz, Eda has three wins in five starts for career earnings of $190,000.

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Op/Ed: Corniche Connections Should Consider Dennis Diaz Wisdom

In 1985, owner Dennis Diaz had a decision to make after his runner, Spend a Buck, won the GI Kentucky Derby.

Under ordinary circumstances it would be on to the GI Preakness S. two weeks later.

But, as Lee Corso would say: “Not so fast.”

In this particular year, before the Triple Crown prep season had begun, Garden State Park owner Robert Brennan offered a $2-million bonus to any horse who won the track's two preps plus the Kentucky Derby and GIII Jersey Derby.

Diaz and trainer Cam Gambolati sent Spend a Buck to the New Jersey racetrack, where he won the Apr. 6 Cherry Hill Mile S. and Apr. 20 Garden State S. prior to his run in the Kentucky Derby.

So, after Spend a Buck, under jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., beat Stephan's Odyssey by 5 3/4 lengths in a sharp 2:00 1/5, Diaz had a decision to make.

It didn't take him long to make it.

Though Pimlico, home of the Preakness, had upped its purse from $250,000 to $350,000-added, Diaz opted for Brennan's offer. The Preakness was won by Tank's Prospect, who earned $423,200 for his owner, Gene Klein.

Spend a Buck won the May 27 Jersey Derby with Laffit Pincay, Jr. aboard, Cordero having a previous engagement. With the purse and bonus, Diaz pocketed $2.6 million, at the time the largest purse in the world.

(Who did Spend a Buck defeat in the Jersey Derby by a neck but Creme Fraiche, who would go on to take the GI Belmont S.)

Because of the bonus Brennan had offered, and the fact Diaz had spurned a run at the Triple Crown to chase the money instead, Triple Crown Productions was formed and the three tracks (Churchill Downs, Pimilco and the New York Racing Association's Belmont Park) began offering a $5-million bonus to any horse that swept the series.

Now, with the purses of the Triple Crown races larger and the long-dropped bonus sponsorship (first by Chrysler, later by VISA), the bonus, which was never paid, has been dropped.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Corniche | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

What does all of this have to do with today?

Well, today Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner have a decision to make. The men, who race as Speedway Stables, own Corniche (Quality Road), winner over the weekend of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

With his decisive victory, and a perfect three-for-three season, Corniche will be named champion juvenile colt. And with that, the expectation of being the winter-book favorite for the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

Where is Corso when you need him, because again, “not so fast.”

Corniche is trained by Bob Baffert, who trained this year's Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico). However, after Medina Spirit tested positive for the presence of betamethasone, Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Baffert from saddling horses at its tracks for two years.

Yes, a different set of circumstances altogether than what faced Diaz, who owned a modestly bred horse bought inexpensively and trained by someone few had previously heard of.

Corniche was an expensive purchase ($1.5-million OBS April sale topper) with a nice pedigree, bred and racing in an age where there are a multitude of farms and partnerships desperately competing to make future stallions.

If they are hell-bent on taking a run down the Triple Crown trail, Fluor and Weiner have two options. They can transfer their colt to a new trainer or they can pursue litigation against Churchill to allow Baffert-trained runners to earn points in prep races and compete in the Derby.

Or, they could take a page from Diaz and instead of being hell-bent, they could say to hell with tradition, the Derby, and Churchill.

There are, after all, many other racetracks and many other races with big purses. And, surely, some clever racetrack promotion team could put together a bonus as cleverly as Brennan did.

Another thing for Fluor and Weiner to consider: Corniche's sire, Quality Road, did not win the Derby. Neither did Tapit, Into Mischief, Ghostzapper, Curlin, Medaglia d'Oro, Uncle Mo …

Want to go back a bit further in history? Though Northern Dancer won the Derby and established a dominant sire line, Mr. Prospector, who also began a superior sire line, did not.

Yes, the Derby will always be the Derby. To this Kentucky-bred, there is no more wonderful race than the Derby. Never will be.

But winning the Derby should not be the ultimate goal for Fluor and Weiner. If they believe in their horse, and in their trainer, there are many other races in which to run.

And, make no mistake about it, breeding farms will still want to stand their horse and breeders will still want to send mares to him.

Another thing for the residents of Houston to think about. Spend a Buck was voted the 1985 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt.

Tradition is great. It provides us a way of linking the past to the present and perhaps one day, to the future.

But for Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner, there is also the wisdom of Dennis Diaz to consider.

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Baffert Has Bob Hope Surrounded

The always well-stocked Bob Baffert barn, fresh off its victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile last week with Corniche (Quality Road), has three more pricey and full-of-potential juvenile colts entered against just two other rivals in Sunday's seven-furlong GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar. Baffert already owns a record 10 Bob Hope trophies and has won four of the last six renewals.

Breaking from the rail is 'TDN Rising Star' Messier (Empire Maker), a 6 1/2-length second-out winner at Santa Anita Oct. 22. He now sheds blinkers off the graduation–a move Baffert has employed in the past with the likes of Bob Hope winner Mastery, Triple Crown winner Justify, champion juvenile Game Winner, etc. Drawn to Messier's right is $400,000 KEENOV weanling Kamui (Quality Road), who was second–demoted to third for interference–behind re-opposing Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah)–at Del Mar Aug. 21. The Baoma Corp. colorbearer aired by six lengths at Los Al Sept. 11. Winning Map (Liam's Map) rounds out the Baffert trio and boasts the field's top Beyer Speed Figure of 85. The $525,000 OBSMAR (:20 3/5) acquisition justified 2-5 odds when cruising clear to a 4 1/4-length debut victory in Arcadia Oct. 3.

The aforementioned Forbidden Kingdom returns to the main track after checking in third as the favorite in Santa Anita's Speakeasy S., a prep for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Rock N Bye (Stay Thirsty) ventures for the first time out of Cal-bred company, where he annexed the local Graduation S. in August before two more stakes placings.

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