Bob Baffert
The highly regarded Spielberg (Union Rags) will look to earn his diploma in Saturday's GI American Pharoah S., a qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Produced by a winning daughter of Smart Strike, the long-striding $1-million KEESEP yearling purchase figures to appreciate this stretch to two turns off a pair of runner-up finishes behind the talented Dr. Schivel (Violence), including a game effort after dueling throughout in the seven-furlong GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity S. Sept. 7. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert seeks his record 10th victory in...
Champion Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}--Indyan Giving, by A.P. Indy) has been retired from racing and will stand the 2021 season at Lane's End in Versailles, Kentucky. A stud fee will be forthcoming. During his championship juvenile season, 'TDN Rising Star' Game Winner was undefeated in four starts--a 5 3/4-length score in his career unveiling at Del Mar followed by the GI Del Mar Futurity, GI American Pharoah S. and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. After earning the champion 2-year-old title for the 2018 season, he returned at...
Three-time Grade I winner Bast (Uncle Mo), in foal to Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy), will be offered at this year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale through Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, who will consign the 3-year-old bay on behalf of owner Charles Chu's Baoma Corporation. The only three-time Grade I winning filly of her crop in the U.S., she is also the only Grade I-winning juvenile filly of that crop to add a graded stakes victory at three. Trained throughout her career by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, she established...
Stablemates Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and 'TDN Rising Star' Improbable (City Zip) will face one another in Saturday's GI Awesome Again S. at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert has confirmed. Baffert had earlier discussed shipping Maximum Security to New York for the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, but instead will race him this weekend in his own backyard. Via text, Baffert said he thought the race was a good fit for both horses because he likes the spacing and the fact that no one has to ship. The Jockey...
LEXINGTON, KY - Bidding continued to be solid for the prized lots, but the market was increasingly polarized as the second and final Book 3 session concluded Saturday in Lexington. Trainer Bob Baffert and Donato Lanni purchased the day's highest-priced offering, going to $450,000 to acquire a colt from the first crop of Unified on behalf of Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman, and Karl Watson. During Saturday's session, 239 horses sold for $18,364,200. The average was $76,838 and the median was $52,000. With 110 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate...
GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) both returned to the worktab Saturday at Churchill Downs. GI Preakness S.-bound Authentic covered five panels in :59.20, the fastest of 38 works at the distance. With jockey Martin Garcia aboard, the bay clicked off splits in :23.80 and :35.40, galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.20. "It went very well. Martin has been with me," said trainer Bob Baffert, who came to Louisville from the Keeneland Sale in Lexington. "He knows what I expect. I told...
The 2020 GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (Into Mischief) and his stablemate Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) are both on track for Pimlico's GI Preakness S., scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3, according to trainer Bob Baffert. The Hall of Famer reported Sunday from Keeneland's September yearling sale that both colts remain at the Churchill barn of D. Wayne Lukas. Both are galloping daily and Baffert indicated they would both likely breeze toward the end of the week. "[Authentic] came out [of the Derby] very well, very well," said Baffert Sunday....
by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--The Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase, a hybrid of the company's July yearling sale, Saratoga sale and New York-bred yearling sale brought about by COVID-19- induced rescheduling, kicked off the 2020 yearling sales season Wednesday with signs of life for the market. A total of 172 yearlings changed hands for gross receipts of $27,166,000--good for an average of $157,942 and median of $100,000. The RNA rate was 34.4%. "At the outset, we had no expectations for the statistics," said Fasig-Tipton president and...
When Authentic (Into Mischief) ran in this week's Kentucky Derby, he carried the hopes and dreams of over 5,000 microshare owners with him, who can now rightly call themselves owners of a Kentucky Derby winner.
Already with a GI Kentucky Derby victory in the bag, Bob Baffert got another superstar performance from one of his charges this weekend, as 'TDN Rising Star' Princess Noor (Not This Time) ran away to an explosive victory in the GI Del Mar Debutante Sunday at the seaside oval. Topping the delayed OBS April sale when hammering to Gary Young for $1.35 million following a dazzling :20 1/5 quarter-mile breeze, the dark bay did not disappoint when unveiled locally Aug. 22, going wire to wire essentially on her own power...
The Authentic (Into Mischief) who won the GI Haskell S. at Monmouth by a nose didn't look like a horse that could win the GI Kentucky Derby. Against a field decidedly weaker than what he would face seven weeks later at Churchill Downs, he nearly squandered a 2 1/2-length lead in the stretch and seemed to be running on fumes in the last few yards of the mile-and-an-eighth race. The mile-and-a-quarter loomed as a major obstacle. Even trainer Bob Baffert acknowledged that Authentic needed to take things to another level....
Dr. Schivel (Violence), a blowout maiden winner last out, plus a pair of horses yet to earn their diploma make up a quality trio of major contenders in Monday's GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity. Backed down to 3-2 debuting June 21 at Santa Anita, the Luis Mendez trainee rallied to be third after some trouble and was runner-up July 4 at Los Alamitos. Jumping way forward in his local bow Aug. 8, the bay blasted clear to a 5 3/4-length victory, earning by far his highest career Beyer with an...