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Baffert Confirms Concert Tour For Preakness; Barnes Staying At Churchill To Oversee Preparations

Last September, Jimmy Barnes watched on his phone in an ambulance as his boss Bob Baffert captured a record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby (G1) with Authentic in the COVID-delayed Classic. Saturday, Baffert's long-time assistant trainer was back watching the race in person at Churchill Downs as Medina Spirit provided Baffert a record-breaking seventh Kentucky Derby victory.

Barnes had sustained a fractured wrist when the barn's other 2020 Derby entrant, Thousand Words, reared and flipped as the assistant trainer attempted to saddle him in the paddock's walking ring. Knocked off balance, Barnes fell and landed awkwardly on his right wrist. Barnes was back at Baffert's Churchill Downs barn the next morning after the break was set at Louisville's Norton Audubon Hospital, but he ultimately had surgery in California with screws inserted to stabilize the injury.

“Especially if you win, you want to be here,” Barnes reflected Monday at Churchill Downs. “But I'd been here enough and we'd won it enough that I knew what was ahead of me. They didn't know how hard it was going to be to get out of here. They said we could either go now (to the hospital) or it could be like 8 o'clock when you get out of here. I knew I probably had four or five hours at least ahead of me, setting it and doing all that. So I said, 'Let's go.' And I watched it on my phone.”

The mishaps weren't over, however, as Authentic later knocked down Baffert in the Derby winner's circle on the turf course.

“It was nice to have Jimmy there and nobody fell down in the winner's circle,” Baffert said Sunday of Medina Spirit's victory in the 147th Kentucky Derby. “It was very enjoyable, and it was good to do it in front of fans.”

Now back on his pony, Barnes again is overseeing Baffert's Pimlico-bound contingent, which, in addition to the Derby winner, could include Rebel Stakes winner Concert Tour for the May 15 Preakness (G1) as well as horses for other stakes next week.

Baffert told the Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman Monday that Concert Tour will run in the Preakness, because owner Gary West “wants to take a shot.”

Concert Tour worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.60 Sunday and is scheduled to work again this weekend. Gary and Mary West's son of 2007 Derby winner Street Sense walked Monday and will jog Tuesday, Barnes said.

Baffert will be out to break a tie with fellow Hall of Famer Robert Wyndham Walden, who had seven Preakness winners between 1875 and 1888. Baffert's most recent of seven Preakness champions include Triple Crown winners Justify in 2018 and American Pharoah in 2015. Each of his Preakness winners went on to be voted 3-year-old champion.

Medina Spirit, who has never been worse than second in six career starts, paid $26.20 to win as the sixth betting choice of 19 while marking the seventh California-based horse to win the Derby in the last 10 years.

“Was I surprised?” Barnes said. “He was running against good horses in California. California horses are usually right there in the Kentucky Derby. He'd run second to (now-injured stablemate) Life Is Good. He was second to John Sadler's horse (Rock Your World) in the Santa Anita Derby. So he'd run respectable races, maybe not the way we needed him to run. He wants to be up front, out in the clear and we had other horses who were faster than him. It just didn't work out for him. He ended up having to be behind and having to close. But going a mile and a quarter, you just never know: Are we going to go on the lead the whole way?

“… I thought there was enough speed that someone would have gone with us.”

Barnes began working for Baffert in November of 1998. His first Derby victory with for Baffert was the trainer's third, front-running War Emblem in 2002. However, Barnes first came to Churchill Downs for Derby weekend in 1999, with Silverbulletday winning the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Baffert attempting to win a third straight Derby with the filly Excellent Meeting and the colt General Challenge. Excellent Meeting rallied from 18th to take fifth (beaten a total of 2 1/4 lengths) and Santa Anita Derby winner General Challenge was knocked sideways shortly after the start and struggled home 11th.

“I saw what it took,” Barnes said. “You need a pretty good horse and you want to be out in front. You need to be up close in the clear to have your best chance.”

Medina Spirit had a second walk day Monday since keeping runner-up Mandaloun at bay for a half-length victory Saturday, with third-place Hot Rod Charlie and fourth-place favorite Essential Quality both beaten about a length for everything.

“He'll probably walk three days – that's our typical deal,” Barnes said. “Maybe Wednesday he'll jog. We'll see how the weather is. It's hard to give them too many days off when we're coming right around. But all systems look good right now. Everything is good.”

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‘So Far, So Good’ For King Fury Try In Preakness; Midnight Bourbon Could Return In Second Jewel

Trainer Kenny McPeek, who saddled filly Swiss Skydiver for a gutsy victory over Kentucky Derby victor Authentic in the 2020 Preakness (G1) last October, is hoping to be back at Pimlico for this year's Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown with stretch-running King Fury. The Lexington Stakes (G3) winner was scratched Friday from the Kentucky Derby after spiking a temperature.

With the Churchill Downs track sloppy following an overnight rain, King Fury had a walk day Monday with his temperature back to normal. “So far so good,” said assistant trainer Greg Geier.

McPeek called the temperature spike 'a one-off deal' Sunday, reporting that the son of Curlin had responded quickly to treatment and had good energy on Derby Day.

“It will be one of those call-an-audible-at-the-line-of-scrimmage [things]. We'll take it into Friday, and see what kind of week he has. If he has a good week, we'll contemplate working him Saturday or Sunday,” McPeek said. “Everything will have to fall into line. He'll have to show there are no ill after-effects on him. He'll have to have good blood work and a good scope (endoscopic exam).”

After watching Medina Spirit's front-running victory in the Derby, McPeek thinks that the race scenario may well have stacked the odds against King Fury, who closed from far back to win the Lexington going away.

“And I don't know if that Derby would have set up for him, either. Might have been fortuitous. It didn't look like anybody could really close any ground,” he said. “The way the racetrack played, they even went fast early and kept going.”

When it was suggested that McPeek didn't see anything in the Derby to scare him away from the Preakness, he said with a laugh: “If I wasn't scared last year, I wouldn't be scared this year. If I've got a horse doing good, I'm going to go. If he's doing really well, we'll go. If he backs out of the tub or his bloodwork isn't right, any notion that he isn't at a full energy level, then we won't go. If he is, we'll go.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon, who rallied to finish sixth in the Kentucky Derby following an awkward start took him out of his usual up-close style, is under Preakness consideration. The Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up had another scheduled walk day Monday at Churchill Downs and will walk again Tuesday before resuming training Wednesday, said trainer Steve Asmussen.

Asmussen won the 2007 Preakness with two-time Horse of the Year Curlin and again in 2009 with Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.

“We're considering running in the Preakness, but we will obviously defer to his training,” the trainer said. “We'll keep discussions open.”

Asmussen said jockey Mike Smith told him that Midnight Bourbon's 'hind end slipped out,' and that's that. It wasn't where we were hoping to be. He ran reasonable after a poor beginning, covered plenty of ground and didn't look like he was horribly overmatched – or overmatched at all.”

Trainer Brad Cox said Monday morning that Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun and fourth-place finisher Essential Quality continue to bounce out of the race well with a Preakness decision yet to be made for either horse.

Cox said he has to talk to owner John Ed Anthony about possibly running Caddo River in the Preakness. Anthony, who now races in the name of Shortleaf Stable, won the 1992 Preakness with Pine Bluff and in 1993 with Prairie Bayou while racing with ex-wife Mary Lynn Dudley under the Loblolly Stable banner.

Caddo River, who finished second in the Arkansas Derby, was knocked out of the Kentucky Derby after spiking a temperature.

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The Week in Review: How to Buy a Derby Winner for $1,000

As consignor Christy Whitman remembers, it was deathly quiet when Medina Spirit (Protonico) entered the ring as a yearling at the 2019 OBS Winter Mixed sale. She seemed to be the only one paying any attention to him

“I knew he wasn't going to bring much because no one was looking at him,” she said.

A few minutes later, Medina Spirit would be hers, forever remembered as the GI Kentucky Derby winner who sold for $1,000 as a yearling.

It's the umpteenth reminder about how beautifully unpredictable this sport can be. The Derby field included horses who sold for $525,000, $725,000, $650,000, $950,000, plus a handful of beautifully bred homebreds. But these sons of super sires Tapit, Into Mischief, Curlin and others didn't have what it took to win the Kentucky Derby. A bargain-basement colt did.

“That's what is so great about this sport,” Whitman said. “Anybody could have bought the Derby horse. Anybody could have put up $1,000 and had a Kentucky Derby winner. That's what makes horse racing so special.”

One of Whitman's exercise riders, Jose Gallego, asked her to see if she could buy on his behalf an inexpensive horse that could be sold for a profit at the 2-year-old sales the following year. Whitman had a small budget and modest plans for the purchase.

“I've always been on a bit of a budget and I don't have a lot of money to spend on a horse,” she said. “I kind of have a knack for finding horses everyone else is overlooking, whether they are immature or maybe have a slight issue. I am looking for diamond-in-the-rough horses. I have honed that skill over the years because that's the only way I've been able to get horses bought.”

She realized that Medina Spirit's pedigree page was not a selling point. The sire, Protonico, who never won a Grade I race and stood at the time for $5,000, was hardly in demand. And on the dam's side you had to go back three generations before finding any blacktype. This was the first foal from a mare, Mongolian Changa (Brilliant Speed), who won one of six starts and earned just $25,970.

“He had all the things I look for,” she said. “He was really well balanced, had a really good hip and top line, was decently correct, athletic and had a good walk to him. I really liked the colt and nobody was looking at him and that was because of his page. With the mare there was pretty much no blacktype and it was her first foal. I didn't even know who Prontonico was. I had to look him up. This was a really nice colt, pretty well put together, but I knew he wasn't going to bring much because absolutely no one was looking at him.”

Whitman opened the bidding on Medina Spirit at $1,000. It was the only bid for the horse.

Gallego broke the horse and Whitman had him back in the Ocala sales ring for last year's July 2-Year-Old Sale.

Whitman was starting to believe that the $1,000 yearling had some talent, but she and Gallego stuck to their plan. Medina Spirit worked three furlongs in :33 flat prior to the sale, which, Whitman knew, would mean there would at least be some interest in him. He was bought by Gary Young, the agent for Zedan Racing Stables for $35,000.

“He sold for the $35,000, basically, because he had a good work,” Whitman said. “If he hadn't had that, he would have been a $10,000 2-year-old. I thought $35,000 for a $1,000 yearling was a pretty good turnaround.”

Whitman will occasionally keep a horse and race them, but she never gave that a thought with Medina Spirit.

“If I had kept the horse and raced him, he would have never made it to the Derby,” she said. “It takes a lot of things coming together to make that happen. He's a good horse, but it is important that he wound up with a good trainer in Bob Baffert. Everything fell into place for him.”

Whitman may never again come across another horse like Medina Spirit, but she will keep trying. She looks for horses that have been overlooked for one reason or another and doesn't worry about their breeding.

“One thing I've always been adamant about is that a lot of people overlook a horse for what I would say are stupid reasons, like their page,” she said. “The horses don't know what their pedigree looks like. They don't know what you paid for them. Just because a horse has a great pedigree does not necessarily mean they are going to be a great horse. I very much go for the individual. If I like the horse I don't care about their page. It's always easier to sell a horse who is an athlete, whether it has the pedigree or not.”

Speed Wins

It's no coincidence that Bob Baffert's two most recent Derby winners won the race in wire-to-wire fashion. Baffert and jockey John Velazquez clearly understand the importance of using early speed as a weapon in the Derby.

In five prior starts, Medina Spirit went wire to wire only once, but there he was on the lead at every call for the Derby. Of course, it didn't hurt that Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) got off to a poor start.

A year earlier, it was the same story. Authentic (Into Mischief) wasn't always on the lead in his starts prior to the 2020 Kentucky Derby. But in his Derby, he led every step of the way under Velazquez and had a relatively easy time holding off the heavy favorite Tiz the Law (Constitution).

Kornacki Picks the Winner

Medina Spirit wasn't an easy horse to come up with, but at least one person from the NBC team was not fooled. Working his first-ever Kentucky Derby broadcast, Steve Kornacki nailed it and was the only one from the NBC talent pool who picked the winner.

Kornacki is best known for his work as a national correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, but is also a long-time racing fan and horseplayer. He brought a lot of insights to the broadcast, in particular his explanation of how the $2-million-plus win bet on Essential Quality (Tapit) by Jim McIngvale affected the odds on the other horses.

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Medina Spirit Fine After Derby Win

Zedan Racing's Medina Spirit (Protonico) exited his win in Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby in fine shape, according to trainer Bob Baffert, who said he would wait a week before committing the colt to the May 15 GI Preakness S.

“He came out of it well,” Baffert said Sunday morning. “It takes about a week to determine, so I'm going to come back next weekend and see. But I don't see anything discouraging right now.”

Baffert continued, “Can he win the Triple Crown? I don't know. But he's the Derby winner, and that's all that matters. I was coming in here, thinking, I wasn't sure [if Medina Spirit could win the Derby], everything had to go perfect for him. We were going to go to the lead, and see what happened. What if they challenged him? He made the lead pretty easily, for him, and the other speed horse didn't break [Rock Your World]. That's what it's like in the Derby. You have to get the trip; the other speed horse didn't get the trip.”

Of his record-breaking seventh victory in the Derby, Baffert said, “I stand here in front of you guys, and you don't know how much I appreciate winning this, especially as you get older. It gets tougher as you get older…I'd love to have 10 in there if I could, but you know that won't happen. To have one who has a chance. To win it with him, it's a Cinderella story, he's just a blue-collar horse, just digging in. He reminded me of Silver Charm….It's another Kentucky Derby dream that came true.”

Baffert could also be represented in the Preakness by GII Rebel S. winner Concert Tour (Street Sense), who worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 (5/17) at Churchill Downs Sunday.

“Concert Tour worked well this morning,” Baffert said. “I'll sit down and talk to [owner] Mr. [Gary] West. He wants that horse to develop and we're not rushing things. We know he's a good horse, so we'll see next week how he is. The thing is how they're training. They both would have to be training well.”

Baffert is in line to break a tie with Robert Wyndham Walden, who saddled seven Preakness winners between 1875 and 1888. Baffert has been represented in the Preakness winner's circle by Triple Crown champions Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015), as well as Lookin At Lucky (2010), War Emblem (2002), Point Given (2001), Real Quiet (1998) and Silver Charm (1997).

Trainer Brad Cox was enjoying a quiet Sunday following his busy Derby day. The Louisville native saddled his first two horses in the race, with Mandaloun (Into Mischief) finishing second and race favorite Essential Quality (Tapit) running fourth.

“It was a wild experience being in the Derby for the first time,” Cox said. “In every previous Derby I've attended, I've been a fan. I've seen the media interviews, the playing of 'My Old Kentucky Home' and everything leading up to the race. Being in the race, all of those things are sort of a blur. You're so focused on the job at hand. We were so grateful that both of our horses ran as well as they did. Essential Quality got a tough trip being so wide but coming that close to a Derby win makes me want more. We'll be back.”

Cox said both of his Derby runners, plus GI Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River (Hard Spun)–who missed Saturday's race due to an elevated temperature–are being considered for the Preakness.

“We'll watch both colts–kind of typical trainer talk,” Cox said.. “We'll get them back to the track in three or four days and see how they're moving. No commitments at all. I mean, I love the Preakness. It's a great weekend, probably one of the best weekends of the year and we'll definitely have horses for the undercard.”

Doug O'Neill said he will skip the Preakness with Derby third-place finisher Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow).

“We're just so proud of his effort,” O'Neill said Sunday morning. “He ran a great race. He ate up last night and jogged fine this morning. It was all good.”

O'Neill added, “We'll look to run him next in the [June 5 GI] Belmont S.,” O'Neill said. “We'll get him back to California and start planning for that.”

Others listed as possible for the Preakness are: Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), who closed to finish sixth after bumping at the start of the Kentucky Derby; Crowded Trade (More Than Ready, who finished third in the GII Wood Memorial; Rombauer (Twirling Candy), who finished third in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S.; Japan-based France Go de Ina (Will Take Charge), who finished sixth in the G2 UAE Derby; GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. winner King Fury (Curlin), who was knocked out of the Derby with a fever; and Unbridled Honor (Honor Code), who finished second in the Lexington.

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