Baffert Issues the Challenge

Bob Baffert said after another triumphant Santa Anita Derby on Saturday that he had to call Kentucky and make a hotel reservation. But he didn’t rush to the telephone.

You can bet he had taken care of his accommodations for the first Saturday in May a long time ago, probably on the first Sunday of May last year. There was no chance that Baffert, who won the last two Kentucky Derbys with Silver Charm and Real Quiet, was going to pass up a chance to become the first trainer to win three in a row.

No, the question was never whether Baffert would have a Derby horse. The question was how many.

Nothing that happened in the last couple of days helped narrow his possibilities.

Like last year, Baffert horses finished 1-2 Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby, arguably the best test for potential Kentucky Derby starters. Last year, it was Indian Charlie first and Real Quiet second. This year, it was General Challenge first and Prime Timber second.

But they might not even be the best 3-year-olds in Baffert’s barn. Two fillies were equally impressive in their wins, Excellent Meeting on Friday at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas and Silvertbulletday on Saturday at Keeneland in Kentucky.

They are certain to be first and second favorites in the Kentucky Oaks for fillies at Churchill Downs on the day before the Derby, unless Baffert decides they belong in the big show.

Then there is Straight Man. He finished fourth last weekend in Kentucky but is considered one of the fastest young horses around and is already stabled at Churchill Downs while waiting for Baffert to make the call.

This is a good problem for a trainer to have, but still a problem.

“The few dark hairs I have on the back of my neck are going to be white by the time we get to Kentucky,” Baffert said Saturday at Santa Anita.

You’d think they would have all turned white in the days leading to the Santa Anita Derby.

Baffert, who since 1997 has won four Triple Crown races, a Dubai World Cup and an Eclipse Award as the nation’s best trainer, has had few bad weeks lately. But last week would qualify.

“The only person I know of who had a worse week than I did was Coach K,” Baffert said.

He should have been forewarned while en route from Dubai to Kentucky. During a layover in London, he not only had to change planes but airports. Having arranged for a Mercedes-Benz to carry him from one to the other, he found it easily enough, loaded his luggage into the trunk, climbed into the front seat and and waited. And waited.

“Mr. Baffert,” the driver finally inquired, “are you going to drive?”

Baffert, in the fog of jet lag, had forgotten that the English drive from the right side of the car and gotten in on the wrong side.

“I felt like an ass,” he said.

He arrived at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., in time to see Straight Man settle into an easy chair during the Gallery Furniture.com Stakes, then watched on closed-circuit television as the horse he had left behind as the favorite in Dubai, Silver Charm, finished a badly beaten sixth.

A couple of days later, the normally affable Baffert fired jockey Chris McCarron from his ride on General Challenge and replaced him with Gary Stevens, leading to a much-publicized confrontation with McCarron’s agent.

Could things get worse? Of course.

On Friday night, Baffert had to rush to his barn after learning that Prime Timber, the early line’s third favorite in the Santa Anita Derby, was “dead lame” because of a mysterious injury to his left hind leg. He had to call the owner, Aaron Jones, and tell him that the horse might not run Saturday.

Baffert returned to the barn Saturday morning and discovered that the treatment had worked and Prime Timber was fine to run. But then, a few minutes before the race, General Challenge started acting up in the paddock. When Baffert tried to calm him, he got a finger caught in the saddle and came away with a nasty cut.

Baffert was disturbed. When a Fox network operative approached him in the walking ring to equip him with his lapel mike, which the trainer had agreed to wear during the race, Baffert snapped.

“You know what, I’m not going to do this,” Baffert said. “I don’t have the time.”

Baffert should have known beforehand that General Challenge would test his patience. A couple of weeks ago, he described the horse--”big, rough, a little goofy”--to Jack Disney, a former Herald Examiner sportswriter who works in Santa Anita’s publicity department. Disney gave him the nickname Rodman.

Baffert adopted it after General Challenge finished fifth in his most recent start, three weeks ago in Louisiana.

“He didn’t show up,” Baffert said.

He showed up Saturday. Did he ever. He won by 3 1/2 lengths over Prime Timber and seven over third-place Desert Hero in a field that included several Kentucky Derby hopefuls.

Like Rodman, General Challenge rebounded.

“Just don’t tell Dennis that he’s a gelding,” Baffert said. “He wouldn’t like it.” General Challenge’s owners, Bob and Betty Mabee, aren’t all that happy about it, either. They’re faced with the prospect of owning a Kentucky Derby winner that they can’t retire to stud.

*

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.