Baffert Is Loading Up in Making Record Bid

Bob Baffert weaved some Santa Anita Derby history when he won the race for the fourth time in 2001. Baffert will join more exclusive company Saturday by starting Kafwain, Domestic Dispute and Indian Express when the 66th Santa Anita Derby is run.

Before Baffert won the race with Point Given two years ago, Wayne Lukas had been the only trainer to win the Santa Anita Derby four times. Baffert could break that tie with Lukas on Saturday, but just by getting into the gate his three horses will land the silver-haired trainer in territory occupied only by a couple of Hall of Famers, Willie Molter and Charlie Whittingham.

Molter set a still-unmatched Santa Anita Derby record when he started four horses in 1957. The same year, Whittingham ran a three-horse entry, and he ran three horses again in 1969. Until Baffert this year, no other trainer has ever run more than two horses in the same year.

Molter and Whittingham won the Santa Anita Derby two times apiece, but strangely none of those victories came in the years they tried to gang up on the opposition. In 1957, Molter was unable to win the race with the immortal Round Table, a horse that Travis Kerr had bought for $145,000 from Claiborne Farm’s Bull Hancock, who was strapped to pay the estate taxes after his father died. Round Table, ridden by Johnny Longden, ran third as Sir William won by a head and Swirling Abbey saved second by a nose. It was one of the Santa Anita Derby’s most dramatic finishes. Round Table was voted horse of the year and became racing’s third millionaire -- after Citation and Nashua -- in 1958.

When Baffert won the Santa Anita Derby -- before Point Given came Cavonnier in 1996, Indian Charlie in 1998 and General Challenge in 1999 -- it has been with much to spare at the finish line. Point Given’s win by 5 1/2 lengths was the biggest winning margin in 12 years.

Indian Charlie and Point Given were favorites, and General Challenge also won at a short price, but this time Baffert steals into a race with a threesome that is perceived to be either going the wrong way or short on seasoning. When post positions for the 1 1/8 miles were drawn Wednesday, Atswhatimtalknbout was installed as the 9-5 favorite and Buddy Gil, the San Felipe winner, was linemaker Jeff Tufts’ second choice at 5-2. The odds leaped to 4-1 for Kafwain, who is ostensibly Baffert’s best shot, and his other starters, Domestic Dispute and Indian Express, are 15-1 and 30-1, respectively, on the morning line. Indian Express is a son of Indian Charlie.

“We’ll need some racing luck,” said Baffert, who is entrusting Kafwain and Domestic Dispute to jockeys who have never ridden the colts before.

The most surprising switch was dropping Victor Espinoza on Kafwain. Espinoza, the only rider Kafwain has ever had in his 10-race career, won last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness for Baffert on War Emblem. but Baffert pooh-poohed his ride of Kafwain in the Louisiana Derby. Kafwain finished second and then was disqualified for a positive clenbuterol test. Baffert has hired Pat Valenzuela.

“Pat’s the hottest rider going right now,” Baffert said. “I needed a different style, a different rider, and Pat’s experienced in big races. He may find something extra in this horse.”

Kafwain, who races for the Thoroughbred Corp., the same outfit that bought War Emblem less than three weeks before last year’s Kentucky Derby, would make a nice Santa Anita Derby bookend in the troubled career of the 40-year-old Valenzuela. At 17, shortly after his apprenticeship ended, Valenzuela won the Santa Anita Derby with Codex. Valenzuela also won the 1989 Santa Anita Derby -- and the Kentucky Derby -- with Sunday Silence, but during the 1990s, when substance abuse frequently took over, Valenzuela rode only twice in the Santa Anita Derby. With 78 victories through the first 71 days of the current season, he seems certain to win the meet title.

Domestic Dispute, who’ll be ridden by Corey Nakatani, was the 2-1 favorite three weeks ago when he finished fifth in the San Felipe Stakes. Baffert partly blames that outcome on the pre-race instructions he gave to jockey Jerry Bailey.

Saturday’s 10-horse field doesn’t include a horse trained by Lukas, who is making a different kind of history in not having a Santa Anita Derby starter for the first time since 1978. Lukas, whose stable is moving from Santa Anita to Churchill Downs, also will be hard-pressed to have a starter on May 3 in the Kentucky Derby, a race he has won four times.

Another short-priced horse on the morning line, Ocean Terrace at 6-1, is undefeated in three starts and coming off a victory at 1 1/16 miles in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. Ocean Terrace, yet to do anything wrong, has still missed the radar screens of some handicappers. The Daily Racing Form ranked him 12th among its Kentucky Derby contenders last week.

“We’re coming out of a good race and running in a very, very good race,” said Bob Hess Jr., who trains Ocean Terrace. “History shows that a horse like mine can win the Kentucky Derby. I don’t mind sneaking in the back door if that’s the way we have to go.”

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Buddy Gil was one of eight late nominees to the Triple Crown, at a cost of $6,000.... It was confirmed that next year’s Breeders’ Cup will be run on Oct. 30 at Lone Star Park near Dallas. This year’s event will be at Santa Anita in October.

Mark Johnston, who will be the 11th jockey to ride Iron Lad in the colt’s 13th start, recently arrived in California from Maryland. Johnston, the Eclipse award-winning apprentice when he won 438 races in 1990, notched his 3,000th victory in September.

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Santa Anita Derby

The field for Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, to be run as the sixth race of an 11-race card at Santa Anita. Post: 2:45 p.m. TV: ESPN (coverage starts at 2 p.m.) Distance: 1 1/8 miles. Weight: All horses to carry 122 pounds.

*--* PP Horse Jockey Odds 1 Ocean Terrace Kent Desormeaux 6-1 2 Indian Express Tyler Baze 30-1 3 Iron Lad Mark Johnston 50-1 4 Buddy Gil Gary Stevens 5-2 5 Ministers Wild Cat Victor Espinoza 10-1 6 Atswhatimtalknbout David Flores 9-5 7 Flirt With Fortune Martin Pedroza 30-1 8 Kafwain Pat Valenzuela 4-1 9 Logician Jose Valdivia Jr 15-1 10 Domestic Dispute Corey Nakatani 15-1

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