A Triumphant Return For Bob Baffert

Just like riding a bicycle.

Starting his first horses since serving a 90-day suspension issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, trainer Bob Baffert won the two races in which he had entered horses on the Saturday card at Los Alamitos. Baffert's victories included a win by High Connection (Connect) in the Los Alamitos Derby. It was Baffert's sixth straight win in the race that used to be known as the Swaps S. and his 12th overall in the mile-and-an-eighth contest.

Baffert had last started horses on Apr. 2. Afterward, he began serving a suspension, the result of Medina Spirit (Protonico) testing positive for the medication betamethasone in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby.

Baffert began his afternoon with a win by Rhetoric (Quality Road) in the day's fifth race, a maiden special weight event for 3-year-olds. The Baffert-trained first-time-starter Western Cape (Curlin) finished third behind his stablemate.

“There's nothing like being back and here I am at Los Alamitos,” Baffert said in an interview with TVG following the maiden win. “Everybody has been welcoming  me. There have been a lot of well-wishers, people glad to see me back. I'm glad to be back because I really missed it. While I was gone, Sean McCarthy, Jimmy Barnes, the whole team, they did a fantastic job. They kept it together. Here I am and I'm looking forward. I'm getting ready for Del Mar. This is where it all started for me, training quarter horses, so it's always been a special place for me. I'm just glad to be back.”

Despite Baffert's record in the Los Alamitos Derby, the betting public made Slow Down Andy (Nyquist) the favorite for trainer Doug O'Neill. But High Connection, ridden by Juan Hernandez, got past his rival in mid-stretch to prevail. He paid $5.40. Baffert also sent out Doppelganger (Into Mischief) in the race. He finished fourth.

Baffert will have one starter Sunday at Los Alamitos, Spooky Lady (Ghostzapper) in a maiden special weight race for fillies and mares.

Baffert remains ineligible for now to race at Churchill Downs, Churchill Downs-owned tracks and at the NYRA tracks. NYRA and Churchill suspended the trainer, a penalty separate from the Kentucky Racing Commission suspension.

Baffert returned to work on July 3, showing up at his barn at Santa Anita.

“It feels like the first day of school,” Baffert told the Los Angeles Times after his first day back.

Baffert said Barnes, his longtime assistant, was the first to greet him.

“He came over and gave me a big ole hug,” Baffert told the Times. “He said, 'Thank goodness, you're back.' I haven't talked to Jimmy since I left. Our whole barn is like a family, I've known them all for so long.”

Baffert told the Times that most of his owners stood by him during his suspension. He did lose at least one important horse as 2021 2-year-old champ 'TDN Rising Star' Corniche (Quality Road) was transferred to the Todd Pletcher barn.

“I lost some horses. Some owners are still waiting [to see what happens],” he told the Times. “I lost Corniche. That hurt. All in all, I've got great group of owners. They hung there in there with me, they know the truth and the facts.”

Baffert has fought all the charges and allegations thrown his way, but did admit to the Times that he made at least one mistake along the way.

“If I had to do anything different, I wouldn't have had a press conference,” Baffert told the paper. “But it was out there and [the media] was waiting….I was trying to get ahead of it. I was convinced after talking to my veterinarians, that [the positive] was impossible. Then it dawned on them 48 hours later, be careful with the [ointment] Otomax.”

During his absence, most of his horses were trained by his former assistant Tim Yakteen and McCarthy. Racing for Yakteen, Taiba (Gun Runner) won the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby before finishing 12th in the GI Kentucky Derby. Taiba, along with stablemate Pinehurst (Twirling Candy), have been nominated to the GI TVG.com Haskell S. on July 23 at Monmouth Park. Baffert has won the Haskell nine times.

Baffert can also begin to focus on the upcoming Del Mar meet, where he normally unveils what is always a well-stocked arsenal of 2-year-old talent. Baffert had 20 winners at last year's summer meet at Del Mar, finishing second in the standings behind Peter Miller, who had 26 wins.

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Hopper Tops Affirmed Exacta for McCarthy at Santa Anita

While the 3-year-old picture was focused primarily in New York Saturday with the GI Belmont S. and the GI Woody Stephens S., Hopper (Declaration of War) threw his hat into the ring from the other coast with a facile victory in the GIII Affirmed S. at Santa Anita. It was a short field, but the exacta horses both hailed from the Sean McCarthy barn while the trifecta was filled out by three former Bob Baffert pupils.

When the stall doors flew, Hopper immediately hightailed it the front from the one post. He stayed on the inside, moving easily and getting the first quarter in :23.37. 'TDN Rising Star' and GSP Doppelganger (Into Mischief) drafted in second, just off his flank and to the outside as Hopper threw down a half in :46.74, still moving smoothly. Abel Cedillo roused him in the stretch, leaving Doppelganger far behind, and the dark bay drew clear to win by 5 1/4 lengths while stablemate High Connection (Connect) passed Doppelganger late. Hopper gave the impression of being out for a morning breeze, making it look easy as he dominated the field.

“I saw Juan [Hernandez] asking [High Connection] at about the three-and-a-half to get into contention and Doppelganger was moving at the same time, but Hopper was just cruising on the front end, so I had a pretty good feeling,” said McCarthy.

Owned by Lanni Bloodstock, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing, Hopper debuted for Baffert Feb. 25 in a six-furlong maiden special weight over this surface, getting bumped at the start and again just after the three-eighths pole. He didn't reappear again until May 7 after that troubled beginning, and by then he'd been transferred to the McCarthy barn. Going seven furlongs that day, he went wide to win by 2 1/4 lengths and register an 87 Beyer. The Affirmed was only his third career start. McCarthy has indicated both Hopper and the runner-up will return to Baffert when the Hall of Famer returns from his suspension next month.

Pedigree Notes:
War Front's European champion and MG1SW Declaration of War is the sire of Hopper and 32 other Northern Hemisphere-bred black-type winners. Among his 17 graded winners are Canadian champion Mr. Hustle, GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Fire At Will, GISW Decorated Invader, French G1SW Olmedo (Fr), and MGISW Gufo, who was also third in the GI Manhattan S. Saturday. Declaration of War stood at Coolmore in Ireland, America, and Australia before moving to Shizunai Stallion Station in Japan ahead of the 2019 season.

Hopper is out of Irridescence (SAf), a champion and MG1SW in her native country. She traveled all over the world for major races, winning Hong Kong's G1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup, and placing in the GI Beverly D. S. in the U.S., the G1 Falmouth S. in England, and the G2 Haafhd Jebel Hatta in Dubai. Hopper is her first stakes winner. She did not produce foals in 2020 or 2021 after being bred to Noble Mission (GB) both times, and was last bred to Air Force Blue. Her sire, the Nureyev stallion Caesour, has 16 stakes winners out of his daughters, including the 2020 GI Jaipur S. winner Oleksandra (Aus) (Animal Kingdom), a mare who beat the boys more than once.

Saturday, Santa Anita
AFFIRMED S.-GIII, $98,000, Santa Anita, 6-11, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.83, ft.
1–HOPPER, 120, c, 3, by Declaration of War
               1st Dam: Irridescence (Saf) (Ch. 3-year-old Filly-SAF, MG1SW-SAF, G1SW-HK,
               SW & GSP-UAE, G1SP-Eng, GISP-USA, $1,578,910), by Caesour
               2nd Dam: Meretricious (Saf), by Dancing Champ
               3rd Dam: Capitoline (Saf), by Elevation (Saf)
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($90,000 Ylg
'20 KEESEP). O-Lanni Bloodstock, Madaket Stables LLC and SF
Racing LLC; B-Green Lantern Stables, LLC (KY); T-Sean
McCarthy; J-Abel Cedillo. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0,
$100,700. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–High Connection, 120, c, 3, Connect–Forest Legend, by Forest
Camp. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($75,000
Ylg '20 KEESEP; $290,000 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O-HRH Prince
Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud; B-G. Watts Humphrey (KY); T-Sean
McCarthy. $20,000.
3–Doppelganger, 120, c, 3, Into Mischief–Twice the Lady, by
Quiet American. ($570,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). 'TDN Rising Star'.
O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC,
Robert E. Masterson, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge
Capital LLC, Catherine M. Donovan, Golconda Stable, Siena
Farm LLC; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Tim Yakteen. $12,000.
Margins: 5 1/4, HF, 35. Odds: 3.30, 1.00, 1.40.
Also Ran: Pioneering Papa. Scratched: Fast Draw Munnings, Newgrange.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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