Baffert Issues the Challenge
Play it again, Bob.
The Man with the White Hair--known in the program as Bob Baffert--had horses run 1-2 in the Santa Anita Derby again. And he’s going to the Kentucky Derby with a stacked deck again. Only the law of averages may catch up with him: In 124 years, no trainer has won the Kentucky Derby three consecutive times.
General Challenge, a California-bred gelding trained by Baffert, scored a convincing victory Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby, and May 1 at Churchill Downs he’ll try to become the first gelding to win the Kentucky Derby since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. The only Kentucky Derby that Baffert has lost was with a California-bred gelding--in 1996 when Cavonnier lost by a nose to Grindstone.
There weren’t many pieces left for the other trainers to pick up after Baffert dismantled the 62nd Santa Anita Derby before a crowd of 35,023. He won the Santa Anita Derby for the third time in four years--the other winners were Cavonnier and Indian Charlie in 1998--and for the second year in a row he had the second-place finisher, Prime Timber, who was beaten by 3 1/2 lengths.
Prime Timber’s owners, Aaron and Marie Jones, were cheered by the fact that Baffert’s two Kentucky Derby winners--Silver Charm and Real Quiet--were his second-place finishers in the Santa Anita Derby.
“The horse that beat us can run,” Aaron Jones said. “I said that he was the horse to beat when I saw him work [very fast] last Monday. But our horse responded well late, and I think he’s among the top three [contenders]. That’s reason enough to go on to Kentucky.”
The morning of the latest Santa Anita Derby, Jones and his family were prepared to go back to Oregon. Prime Timber bruised a foot after a gallop around the track Friday, was dead lame in his left rear later, and Baffert had expected to scratch the horse Saturday.
“We took the shoe off Friday,” Baffert said. “It might have been a nail that was bothering him. Then we soaked it, and by [Saturday morning] he was all right.”
John and Betty Mabee, who bred General Challenge at their Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona, Calif., hope to get to their second Kentucky Derby with General Meeting. Hope is the operative word, because the Mabees were on the bubble this time a year ago with the probable Derby favorite, Event Of The Year, when he suffered a fractured knee eight days before the race. Their only Derby starter, Best Pal, ran second to Strike The Gold in 1991.
The Mabees also race Excellent Meeting, winner of the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Friday, but she likely will run in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill on April 30. Baffert has another high-flying filly, Silverbulletday, who was an impressive winner Saturday at Keeneland.
“The fillies will probably run in the Oaks,” Baffert said. “But I change my mind a lot, and I always like to leave the door open at least a crack.”
By a matter of $5,000, Prime Timber went off the 2-1 favorite Saturday. General Challenge was undefeated in his first three starts, then came unglued on a flight to New Orleans last month and had a horrible time on the Fair Grounds track as well. He broke in the air, got dirt kicked in his face and finished fifth in the Louisiana Derby.
For the Santa Anita Derby, at the suggestion of jockey Gary Stevens, Baffert put blinkers on General Challenge. “They didn’t make him run any faster, but they made him more focused,” said Stevens, who has won seven Santa Anita Derbys overall and five of the last seven. He’s one shy of catching Bill Shoemaker.
Stevens might consider sharing his earnings--$45,000 of the winner’s $450,000 purse--with Chris McCarron, who by rights should have been riding General Challenge. When Baffert decided to leave Real Quiet out of Saturday’s Oaklawn Handicap, his main rider, Stevens, became available at Santa Anita. McCarron, promised the mount on General Challenge weeks ago, could have made a case with the stewards, but on Wednesday he and agent Scott McClellan backed off after Baffert assured them of more of his business. McCarron picked up the mount on High Wire Act, who ran last.
“I’ve got to thank Chris and Scotty,” Baffert said after the race. “I owe Chris one, big-time.”
Desert Hero, unbeaten in two starts before Saturday, finished third, beaten by seven lengths, with his trainer, Richard Mandella, undecided about whether he’d run in the Kentucky Derby. Honest Lady, trying to become the fourth filly to win the Santa Anita Derby, was still close at the eighth pole, but flattened out and finished seventh in the eight-horse field.
Running 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 4/5, General Challenge paid $7.60 as the third choice and boosted his earnings to $642,900.
Fidgety in the post parade, General Challenge again broke slowly, but Stevens managed to put him just behind High Wire Act through an opening half-mile of 47 seconds. Prime Timber was fifth, 3 1/2 lengths back.
General Challenge took the lead approaching the far turn. He had Prime Timber by 2 1/2 lengths at the top of the stretch, and Desert Hero, who broke in the air at the start, was third but not gaining on General Challenge.
David Flores, who road Prime Timber, said a faster pace would have helped his horse.
“The way my horse ran last time, he had every right to buckle this time, but he didn’t,” Stevens said. “He didn’t regress and he gave us a big effort. This was a big task, a big hurdle for him to cross, and he did it with flying colors.”
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
SANTA ANITA DERBY
HOW THEY FINISHED
1. General Challenge
Jockey: Gary Stevens
Trainer: Bob Baffert
To win: $7.60
*
2. Prime timber
Jockey: David Flores
Trainer: Bob Baffert
To place: $3.40
*
3. Desert Hero
Jockey: Corey Nakatani
Trainer: Richard Mandella
To show: $2.60