Trainer Bob Baffert’s impact on the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park was clear after his debut winner Cornucopian was made the 7-5 morning-line favorite in a field that includes Coal Battle, already a winner of three 2025 Kentucky Derby (G1) point qualifiers.
Baffert won the Arkansas Derby last year with Muth, and another of his five winners in the race was American Pharaoh on his way to sweeping the 2015 Triple Crown.
Cornucopian won his career debut at Oaklawn on Feb. 23 by 5 ¾ lengths in a 6-furlong maiden allowance in 1:09.02, the fastest clocking for a 3-year-old maiden in the track’s history.
Coal Battle, meanwhile, sits fourth on the 2025 Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 70 points after wins in the Springboard Mile, the Smarty Jones, and the Rebel (G2), the latter two at Oaklawn.
On Saturday, the 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby offers 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying points of 100-50-25-15-10 points to the top five finishers. A year ago, third-place finisher Mystik Dan went on to win the 2024 Kentucky Derby.
Cornucopian will leave from the outside No. 9 post under Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez (Irad Ortiz, Jr., was aboard for the maiden win). The Into Mischief colt, purchased for $1.1 million, is owned by a group led by SF Racing. The same group owns three other Baffert 2025 Kentucky Derby contenders: Citizen Bull, Madaket Road, and Rodriguez.
Coal Battle, trained by 72-year-old Lonnie Briley, is the 7-2 third betting choice behind 3-1 Sandman, a deep closer who finished second in the Southwest and third in the Rebel.
“There’s some nice horses in there,” Baffert told horseracingnation.com. “He [Coal Battle] likes to win, and he’s got a lot of Ws by his name. That’s a big deal. I was pretty impressed with the way he won last time.”
Post time for the Arkansas Derby is 7:48 p.m. ET.
1 Brereton’s Baytown (Marshall Mendez, Paul McEntee), 20-1
2 First Division (Brian Hernandez, Jr., Kenny McPeek), 20-1
3 Publisher (Flavien Prat, Steve Asmussen), 6-1
4 Bestfriend Rocket (Nik Juarez, D. Wayne Lukas), 20-1
5 Speed King (Rafael Bejarano, Ron Moquett), 15-1
6 Sandman (Jose Ortiz, Mark Casse), 3-1
7 Monet’s Magic (Luan Machado, Ben Colebrook), 20-1
8 Coal Battle (Juan Vargas, Lonnie Briley), 7-2
9 Cornucopian (John Velazquez, Bob Baffert), 7-5
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
