Bob Baffert

The final weekend of major preps for both the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks got a few extra days tacked on as significant rain around Lexington pushed Keeneland to delay their spring racing features back to Monday and Tuesday next week. While the races will be missed as part of Saturday's action, there is certainly no void as Santa Anita and Aqueduct both offer their final stops on the Road the Kentucky Derby. The 1 1/8-mile GI Santa Anita Derby features a small yet mighty field with...

Netflix is set to roll out a new six-part series called "Race For the Crown," which will debut on the streaming platform Apr. 22, the service provider said in a press release on Wednesday. From the producers of "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" and "SPRINT," the series offers a window into the world of professional horse racing. With exclusive access to jockeys, trainers, and owners, "Race for the Crown" is intended to be an inside look at the high-stakes quest to win across the Triple Crown. Included are interviews with...

The last week of preps for the GI Kentucky Oaks is upon us. The GI Ashland Stakes will be run Friday at Keeneland on opening day and Aqueduct will offer the GIII Gazelle Stakes the next day. The Gazelle came up predictably weak, but the Ashland has some intriguing contenders that could crack the top three or four come Friday. Last week, Quietside (Malibu Moon) was a convincing winner of the GII Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn and Five G (Vekoma) never looked back to win the GII Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park...

We're on the cusp of the one-month mark to the GI Kentucky Derby and this Saturday marks the most important weekend of nine-furlong preps on the Triple Crown calendar, with significant stakes at Santa Anita, Keeneland, and Aqueduct. Next week the Top 12 expands to the Top 20 as the actual field begins to take shape. 1) CITIZEN BULL (c, Into Mischief-No Joke, by Distorted Humor) O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital...

If you want a historical prognosticator for success in the GI Kentucky Derby, you can't do much better than running well in the GI Florida Derby. The premier stakes for sophomores at Gulfstream Park has been around since 1952, and in 73 renewals, Florida Derby participants have gone on to win that year's Kentucky Derby 25 times-a better than 1-in-3 strike rate. For perspective, the next-most-productive preps are two far older races, the GI Champagne Stakes (which dates to 1867) and the GI Blue Grass Stakes (first run in 1911),...

A quartet of contenders for next weekend's GI Santa Anita Derby took to the track in Arcadia to work Saturday morning: Journalism (Curlin), Citizen Bull (Into Mischief), Rodriguez (Authentic) and Baeza (McKinzie). Journalism, last-out winner of the GII San Felipe Stakes, went five furlongs in 1:01.40 (26/42) for trainer Michael McCarthy. "I let him run a little bit down the lane with a solid gallop-out," McCarthy said of the work. "He did everything we asked of him." Journalism's eye-catching victory in the San Felipe earned a 108 Beyer Speed Figure,...

Gulfstream Park's GI Curlin Florida Derby tips off one hour ahead of Oaklawn's GI Arkansas Derby on Saturday and, with 100 points on the 'Road to the Kentucky Derby' on offer in each spot, both races offer what amounts to a 'win and you're in' spot in the gate on the first Saturday in May. Between them, the two tracks host eight of the day's 10 graded stakes. Godolphin homebred Sovereignty (Into Mischief), one of two runners in the Florida Derby along with Madaket Road (Quality Road) facing a jockey...

We've taken the plunge into the deeper end of the prep pool for the GI Kentucky Derby. Five nine-furlong stakes each awarding 100 qualifying points are scheduled over the next two Saturdays, after which this list will expand to the Top 20. 1) CITIZEN BULL (c, Into Mischief--No Joke, by Distorted Humor) O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan; B-Robert Low & Lawana Low (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history:...

Bob Baffert has found himself in a familiar position as he once again brings a well-met runner into Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby with all the buzz behind him, this time in the form of 'TDN Rising Star' Cornucopian (Into Mischief), who has been made the 7-5 morning line favorite from the nine hole. Fresh off an unveiling which garnered the stamp of approval from the TDN, and stopped the clock in a six-furlong maiden special in an eye-catching 1:09.02--the fastest by a 3-year-old in Oaklawn history--the son of Into Mischief...

Godolphin's Sovereignty (Into Mischief), a smashing winner of the GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes on seasonal debut Mar. 1, drew widest in a field of 10 and was made the 8-5 favorite on the morning line for the GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on Mar. 29. Trained by Bill Mott, looking for his first victory in the Kentucky Derby stepping-stone, Sovereignty is a homebred son of Crowned (Bernardini), whose dam Mushka (Empire Maker) was a Grade II winner of the Demoiselle Stakes as a juvenile and added...

Added to the Kentucky Derby Trail for the first time, the Virginia Derby entered a new era over the dirt at Colonial Downs on Saturday and it was American Promise (Justify--Tapella, by Tapit) who deposited 50 points into his 'Run for the Roses' account. It took him six starts to graduate from the maiden ranks, but a patient progression has never dissuaded D. Wayne Lukas before, and once the chestnut got his first win, he was tasked with stepping up into graded company. Crossing the line in sixth, but disqualified...

3rd-Santa Anita, $65,500, Msw, 3-14, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.94, ft, 1 1/4 lengths. VOLDEMORT (c, 3, Good Magic--Beauty Buzz, by Bernardini) couldn't reel in 'TDN Rising Star' Tiz Secure (Maximum Security) in their mutual unveiling Feb. 22, but the 8-5 favorite more than got the job done here with a workman-like effort on the front end. Quickly to the front to control the pace, he came under pressure after the half in :45.78 and tried to give the field the slip entering the second bend. On a clear lead, but...