Can trainer Bob Baffert win yet another Preakness with Goal Oriented?
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BALTIMORE — Trainer Bob Baffert loves to come to the Preakness. He loves the fact that all the top horses are in the same barn, so he can kibitz with his fellow trainers, such as an extended conversation with Mark Casse about the best crabcakes in town. He loves the casual atmosphere, in contrast to the high stakes, high pressure feeling at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.
Or maybe it’s because he’s won the second leg of the Triple Crown eight times, more than any other trainer in history.
So, he was asked why he was bringing Goal Oriented, an undefeated two-time starter who has never run in a stakes race, to the Preakness.
“FOMO,” Baffert said with a laugh, referring to the acronym for “fear of missing out.”
Make no mistake, Baffert doesn’t run a horse in a race this big just because he likes the crabcakes.
Trainer Michael McCarthy never doubted that Journalism would race at Pimlico and believes his 3-year-old colt is ready for another Triple Crown race.
Baffert had actually planned to also run Rodriguez in the Preakness. Rodriguez, the easy winner of the Wood Memorial, was supposed to run in the Kentucky Derby but scratched because of a sore hoof. He was being pointed to the Preakness. But that didn’t work out either.
“[Goal Oriented] ran well, and he worked well and came out of [the race on the Derby undercard] really well,” Baffert said. “I was thinking Rodriguez. But, I didn’t get to train him. It took me a long time. I put in a whole week to get that foot right, and then I breezed him.
“But I really think [Goal Oriented] is a bigger, stronger horse, and I think Rodriguez was not quite ready. I’d rather just shoot for the Belmont with him. He’s a lighter horse.”
No one, including Baffert, knows how good Goal Oriented is. He is the fourth favorite on the morning line at 6-1. But, given that he’s trained by Baffert, will likely go off at lower odds.
“Oh, we don’t know, [how he’ll run],” Baffert said. “We’re just going to throw him in there. He’s handled everything here. He handled the ship, and he handled Churchill, came back like it was nothing. I can tell after they win. In the winner’s circle, he just stood there, stoic, didn’t even take a deep breath. He was like, ‘Hey, that’s it?’ I like that. Some horses come back and they’re blowing (breathing heavy), they’ll blow your hat off. He wasn’t that. He handled it pretty well. We’ve always been very high on him.”
Goal Oriented, a $425,000 purchase for the same ownership consortium that also has Rodriguez and Citizen Bull, ran his first race on April 6 at Santa Anita, winning by 3 ¼ lengths. His second race was on the undercard on Derby day, winning an allowance on three-quarters of a length.
“He’s an eyeful, he’s handsome, he’s beautiful,” said Tom Ryan, who heads the ownership group. “He’s a May 15 baby who is just now coming into his own. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s gone short, he’s gone long, he’s handled the slop.
“We don’t run in Grade 1s just to have a look at a horse. We think he’s in form and deserves a shot. He has to improve for sure. He’s been great in the morning and now we’re hoping he can continue it to the afternoon.”
Goal Oriented certainly looks like he is in form, but the question remains what specifically is his form and style.
“We don’t even know his style,” Baffert said. “We put him on the lead because of the mud [at Churchill Downs] and we didn’t want to mess around. [Jockey Flavien] Prat knows him now. He’s got tactical speed, but he doesn’t have to be rushed off his feet. He’s a big strong horse.”
Baffert doesn’t claim to have any super secret key to his success at the Preakness.
“I had the best horse,” Baffert said simply. “You have to have the best horse to win. And that’s usually the best secret a trainer can have in these big races is if you have the best horse.”
He won his first Preakness in 1997 with Silver Charm. His other winners were Real Quiet (1998), Point Given (2001), War Emblem (2002), Lookin at Lucky (2010), American Pharoah (2015), Justify (2018) and National Treasure (2023).
This will most likely be the last time Baffert runs at Pimlico as it is currently constructed. The track is scheduled to be torn down almost immediately after Saturday’s race and the Preakness will move to nearby Laurel for two years during the rebuild.
Check out the top storylines to watch during the Preakness Stakes, including a look at favorites with Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty out.
The track surface and configuration will pretty much be the same. However, the place where the fans watch the race will be very different.
Baffert was more concerned that the stakes barn will remain. It will but it’s unclear if the same structure will remain or if a new barn will be built
“I like this barn,” Baffert said. “I would like to take this barn to Santa Anita.”
On Baffert’s long list of accomplishments, that’s one he may fall short on.
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