Where’s Bob?
Not at the Kentucky Derby.
Still banished by Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI)
The 150th edition of the Run for the Roses is Saturday (May 4), and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert remains banned from competing in the race he’s won a record-tying six times.
Does the absence of Bob Baffert diminish this year’s Kentucky Derby?
Yes, Baffert was suspended by CDI in 2021 after his Medina Spirit finished first in the Kentucky Derby but disqualified a week later following a positive test for a race-day overage of a legal medication.
Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert- Photo Courtesy Of Churchill Downs
In 2023, CDI elected to extend the two-year ban for another year “based on continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing [Baffert] poses to CDI-owned racetracks.”
Kentucky Derby Lite?
Let’s just call this edition Kentucky Derby Lite.
Baffert likely would have had one of the favorites in Muth, the Arkansas Derby winner with four wins and two seconds in six starts. In addition, Santa Anita Derby runner-up Imagination would also have qualified.
But Baffert’s horses were not eligible to earn qualifying points, so no Kentucky Derby, or Kentucky Oaks for any of his 3-year-old fillies.
Fierceness, the Florida Derby winner, and Sierra Leone, the Blue Grass Stakes winner, are deserving favorites; but without Baffert on the scene, the Kentucky Derby won’t be the same – for the third year in a row.
This year, Baffert’s owners did not transfer their Kentucky Derby prospects to other trainers to get their horses eligible as they did the past two years, with Amr Zedan (who owns Muth) recently failing in a bid to get an injunction to allow his colt to run.
During the Kentucky Derby prep season, a Baffert-trained horse won five of the 36 races (13.9%). In addition to Muth’s Arkansas Derby romp, he ran 1-2 with Imagination and Wine Me Up in the San Felipe Stakes.
Lukas speaks up for Baffert
D. Wayne Lukas. Coady Photo.
Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time Kentucky Derby winner who sends out Just Steel on Saturday, is a Baffert backer. After Just Steel ran second in the Arkansas Derby, Lukas said he was disappointed that Baffert couldn’t bring Muth to Churchill Downs.
“My personal feeling is that I think [the establishment] wanted the 150th Kentucky Derby to have a positive and strong approach and, if Bob had run this year, he would have been a lot of the story,’’ Lukas said recently. [The media] would be all over him trying to find out how he felt. That would have become the main story, and I don’t think management felt that should be the case for the 150th. But he really should be here.”
Baffert aiming for Preakness
As we look beyond the Kentucky Derby, Baffert’s 3-year-olds are eligible for the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the final two legs of the Triple Crown. Even before the Derby, Muth is the early Preakness favorite.
Will Belmont Stakes be the real Derby?
The Belmont, meanwhile, will be run for the first time at Saratoga Race Course on June 8 — at the Derby distance of 1 ¼ miles rather than the traditional 1 ½ miles. This race now seems like it will be more of a Derby than the real Derby with all the top 3-year-olds getting a shot.
Here’s to safe racing on Saturday, and to Baffert’s return to the Kentucky Derby in 2025.