Bob Baffert | Horse Racing Free Tips

Corniche Moved to Pletcher Barn

Last year's champion 2-year-old colt Corniche (Quality Road) has been moved to trainer Todd Pletcher's barn from suspended conditioner Bob Baffert's outfit, his owners Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner of Speedway Stable said in a joint statement Monday. Baffert is currently serving a 90-day suspension handed down by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission that began Apr. 4 and runs through July 2.

“Since Corniche's previous trainer, Bob Baffert, cannot begin training until the first week in July and, after a discussion with Bob, we felt that for Corniche to be ready to compete in June, it is necessary that we make a trainer change at this time,” Fluor said. “To that end, Todd Pletcher will commence training Corniche in early May. K.C. and I are most appreciative of Bob's brilliant handling of Corniche's 2-year-old campaign and ultimately providing Speedway Stables with its first Breeders Cup winner and Eclipse Award champion.”

Named a 'TDN Rising Star' off a dazzling debut romp last summer at Del Mar, Corniche legitimized that distinction with subsequent victories in the GI American Pharoah S. and GI Breeders' Cup Classic to lock up his Eclipse Award. He has yet to start as a 3-year-old and has been laid up at WinStar, where he recorded a pair of workouts in the past few weeks, going three furlongs in :36.80 (2/5) Apr. 15 and a half-mile in :48.94 (2/3) Apr. 23. The $1.5-million OBS April buy will be sent straight to Pletcher at the conclusion of his time at WinStar.

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Life Is Good, Country Grammer Thriving at WinStar

Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Country Grammer (Tonalist), both multiple Grade I winners co-owned by WinStar Farm, are enjoying a freshening at WinStar's training and rehabilitation facility in Versailles, Ky. before they return to the racetrack for their summer campaigns. Rivals in their last start in the G1 Dubai World Cup, the duo now shares the same daily routine on the farm. After training at 6:30 every morning, they keep company together as they enjoy the grass and sunshine in side-by-side round pens.

“Life Is Good and Country Grammer arrived shortly after the Dubai World Cup,” WinStar Farm Trainer Destin Heath said. “They were able to quarantine in Louisville at a new quarantine facility, which is a change from years past. We were able to check on them while they were there and now they've settled back into their normal routine here at WinStar. We've been letting them do their thing–keep a little bit of fitness, but be a horse. They both train early in the morning so they have ample time to go outside.”

With consecutive Grade I wins in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., 'TDN Rising Star' Life is Good was the heavy favorite in the Dubai World Cup, but Country Grammer, who was coming off a second-place finish in the G1 Saudi Cup, closed in the final furlong to get the victory.

“We all thought Life Is Good was a cinch,” Heath admitted. “I'll be honest, that was my main rooting interest. But Country Grammer coming through and winning the race was pretty special for us and the crew here at the training barn.”

Country Grammer spent a brief stint at WinStar after he was purchased as a 2-year-old by Paul Pompa in 2019 and he returned after his 3-year-old campaign that was marked by a win in the GIII Peter Pan S. After Pompa's passing in 2020, the colt sold to WinStar Farm for $110,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January Sale and was sent to Bob Baffert in California, where got his first Grade I victory last year in the Hollywood Gold Cup S.

Life is Good has also spent a good deal of time at WinStar's training center. The $525,000 Keeneland September purchase was part of WinStar's breaking program.

“Life Is Good is pretty special,” Heath said. “He was easy to break and was forward from day one. [WinStar Rehabilitation and Breaking Manager] Terry Arnold told me from day one that he was the best one of the bunch and he was spot on with that. We've always been high on him and he's never really done anything wrong. We just had to manage him to not go too fast in his early stages.”

Heath notes Life is Good's Pegasus victory as his most impressive win so far, but he first points to the talented bay's first-ever defeat last year in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., where he ran second off a layoff after a battle with Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), as the race he and his team are most proud of.

“He was with us for quite a bit last spring after he got injured and came off the Derby trail,” Heath said. “It was pretty special to see him run in a Grade I just 47 days after shipping out. That was a thrill even in defeat.”

While there was never a question of Life is Good's brilliance as 3-year-old, Heath said he is even more confident in the champion's ability now as an older horse.

“As a 4-year-old, he's a little bit more professional about things,” Heath explained. “He knows his job and he knows what to do. We just have to keep him in a routine to where he's happy and healthy. I think we've got him figured out now. He just likes to go out and be a racehorse.”

Country Grammer heads back to the barn after a morning in the sunshine | Katie Petrunyak

Heath said that Country Grammer is equally professional on the racetrack, but not quite as easygoing as his stablemate on the ground.

“He knows that he's all man,” Heath said. “You've got to set your scenarios up every morning with the right riders and grooms to make sure he's not going to tell them who's boss. Turned out, he's a little bit more of a ham and a little bit more animated. He plays and has a good time out there, but on the track he's the consummate professional. He never turns a hair and really enjoys his job.”

Heath, who first came to Kentucky in 2005 to work for D. Wayne Lukas and took on the role of head trainer at WinStar in 2018, is no stranger to working with top-class horses at WinStar with a long list of graduates that includes superstars Justify, Monomoy Girl, Songbird, Improbable, Midnight Bisou and Always Dreaming.

He noted that their roster this spring is particularly impressive. Along with Life Is Good and Country Grammer, two-time Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. winner Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Champion Corniche (Quality Road), 2021 GI Woody Stephens S. winner Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) and 2021 GI Cigar Mile H. victor Americanrevolution (Constitution) have all spent time at WinStar already this year.

“It's pretty special to have horses of that caliber,” Heath said. “The incredible horses in the barn are easy to have. They know their job and they know their routine. I just try to stay out of their way and let them do their thing. I know I never take a day for granted here and I know the crew doesn't either.”

No specific plans are set yet as to when Life Is Good and Country Grammer will ship out in the coming weeks. Country Grammer's trainer Bob Baffert is currently serving a 90-day suspension for the betamethasone positive in last year's Kentucky Derby, but Heath said the 5-year-old bay will be pointing toward Del Mar. Meanwhile Life Is Good will head to Todd Pletcher to target the Saratoga race meet.

“We're going to leave it up to the individual horse and the timeline for the year,” he explained. “We'll let them decide when they're ready to get back to the races. It's all up to the horse.”

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Corniche Nearing Return

He has yet to run this year, which has turned GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Corniche (Quality Road) into the forgotten horse in the 3-year-old male division. That, however, may be about to change. Corniche has had two recent works at WinStar Farm and, according to Marette Farrel, an advisor to owners K.C. Weiner and Peter Fluor, the colt will return to the racetrack within a couple of weeks.

“His last work at WinStar [four furlongs in :48.94 last Saturday], they said that it was an 'A' work,” Farrel said. “He couldn't have been more impressive.”

Corniche, a $1.5-million purchase at the 2021 OBS Spring Sale, debuted Sept. 4 for trainer Bob Baffert, breaking his maiden by 4 1/4 lengths. Up next was a 3 1/4-length win in the GI American Pharoah and then a 1 3/4-length victory in the Breeders' Cup. Named 2-year-old male champion, Corniche was the early favorite for the GI Kentucky Derby and his connections began to plot a course to get him to Churchill Downs. But there was a problem. Corniche was not flourishing.

“He really only got 30 days off,” Farrel said. “He didn't come to WinStar until the beginning of December. The first week of January, he started jogging and then he started galloping. It was then that he didn't bloom like he should have.”

Farrel said there were rumors that Corniche had suffered some kind of physical setback, but says that was never the case. But he wasn't showing the connections what they wanted to see. With the calendar entering mid-March and with Corniche still not having had a workout, a decision had to be made. Press on for the Derby or come up with an alternate plan?

“He was a little slow to come around physically and he was still holding on to his winter coat,” Farrel said. “Peter and K.C. had a choice to make in March. Do you push the horse and rush him to the Derby or do you let the horse come back naturally in his own time and in his own way? They are very successful businessmen and they understand big picture things. They said, 'We want to do right by the horse.' Let him tell us what he wants to do and when he wants to do it. I applaud Peter and K.C. for taking what is, in my opinion, the right road.”

But that meant giving up on any chance to win the Kentucky Derby.

“There hasn't been any frustration,” Farrel said. “They took the horsemen's path and did the right thing by the horse. They weren't shortsighted and said, 'Let's go for it, let's take a chance.' If they did that they might not have had any horse left after running him in the Derby.”

Corniche's first published workout of the year came on Apr. 15 when he breezed three furlongs in :36.80 at WinStar. It was exactly what his team had been looking for, a sign that he was finally coming around. After one or two more works at WinStar, the next step for Corniche will be to return to the track and continue to work toward his first start of the year. The problem with that is that his return will come while Baffert is serving a 90-day suspension for the betamethasone positive he was hit with in last year's Kentucky Derby. That opens up the possibility that Corniche will be turned over to a new trainer. Farrel said the owners have yet to reach a decision concerning who will get the horse.

Farrel said the main goals will be the GI Haskell S. and the GI Travers S. and she is confident Corniche will be ready by then and will return to top form. The Derby and the entire Triple Crown may be out, but Corniche may still make something out of what so far has been a lost year.

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NYRA Hearing Officer Recommends Two-Year Suspension for Baffert

Judge O. Peter Sherwood, the retired New York Supreme Court justice who served as the hearing officer in NYRA's dispute with Bob Baffert, issued his report Wednesday, recommending that Baffert receive a two-year suspension.

The report has been sent to a three-person panel that has been convened to consider whether or not Baffert should be penalized by NYRA. Each side will have seven days to respond to the report. After the seven days, the panel will have 10 days to make a final decision.

The panel consists of attorney John Carusone Jr., New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association Executive Director Will Alempijevic and Humberto Chavez, who heads the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy of America program.

On May 17, NYRA suspended Baffert, but had to drop the ban when a federal judge ruled that NYRA could not take such steps without first holding a hearing for Baffert or for anyone else the racing organization sought to suspend. Because of its affiliation with the state of New York, NYRA, unlike privately owned tracks like Churchill Downs, does not necessarily have the right to ban someone without due process. Churchill's two-year ban of Baffert is currently in place.

The hearing commenced in January with NYRA attorney Henry Greenberg stating that Baffert had taken a “wrecking ball” to the sport's integrity because of his record of repeated drug violations. NYRA charged that during a 14-month span, Baffert-trained horses tested positive for prohibited medications seven times. The most high-profile offense occurred in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby in which Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for betamethasone.

In asking the hearing officer to recommend a suspension for Baffert, NYRA said that his conduct was detrimental to the best interests of racing, the health and safety of the horses and NYRA business operations.

NYRA released Sherwood's 54-page report Tuesday.

This story will be updated.

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