Hitting Low in Odds, Bob Baffert Gets Honest About Colts Before Kentucky Derby

So, Bob Baffert has two horses in the running for the Kentucky Derby, and they’ve got different odds going on. Rodriguez is sitting at 6-1, while Citizen Bull is at 20-1. They both had their own prep races. In the end, Rodriguez snagged those important 100 points after winning the G2 Wood Memorial Stakes. On the other hand, Citizen Bull picked up some points too and managed to squeeze into the top 20 on the leaderboard. Before the Kentucky Derby, Bob Baffert interacted with Ron Flatter from Horse Racing Nation. What’s the question?

“There were a lot of people saying Baffert is going to have five horses in the Kentucky Derby. And I kept saying just wait a minute. We’ve got a long way to go between now and then. You heard all that, I’m sure. Were you disappointed you didn’t get five in the Derby?” Flatter asked Baffert. In fact, the 72-year-old trainer is aiming for a record-tying seventh Kentucky Derby victory. And you know what? In the prep races, there were actually a few names that stood out.

Besides Rodriguez and Citizen Bull, Baffert also had Madaket Road, Barnes, Gaming, Cornucopian, and Mellenchamp in the mix. Even though he was considering Madaket Road, the trainer decided to focus his horse on the Pat Day Mile Stakes instead. So, what did Baffert say in response to that question? I had four that were qualified for it, including Getaway Car and Madaket Road, but I’m just going with two.

“I actually had four qualified for it (including Getaway Car and Madaket Road), but I’m only running two. I could have had five, maybe or six or whatever, but it just didn’t happen,” said the Hall of Fame trainer. “The Derby horses, they bring you along. They get you there. You can’t force the issue. They get you there, and you want to go there with horses that have a chance. You don’t want to go there with a horse just because he qualified and he has no chance. That’s not fun. When you do it once, you go like, wow, I’m not going to do that again, because you have the Preakness, and you’ve got the Belmont. All three races are exciting.”

Baffert has trained a bunch of horses over the years. With six titles under his belt, he definitely knows the rules of the game. Even if he had more than two horses ready for the Run for the Roses, he really wanted to concentrate on just the two: Citizen Bull and Rodriguez. Baffert emphasized how crucial it is to know where a horse can really shine, drawing from his experience.

Just because some horses do great in prep races doesn’t mean they’ll perform the same way at Churchill Downs. Also, the Kentucky Derby isn’t the only race he’s excited about this year; he’s also looking forward to the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the other two races in the American Triple Crown. And are you aware? Actually, he’s got a horse all set for the second leg of the American Triple Crown.

Major update on Bob Baffert’s colt

Do you remember when Cornucopian was one of Bob Baffert’s promising horses in those prep races? So, any talk about the colt being great was pretty much settled after his not-so-great showing at the G1 Arkansas Derby on March 29. Even though it seemed like his racing days were done, co-owner Tom Ryan saw things differently when it came to Cornucopian.

Talking about the colt’s racing career, Ryan said, “He’s really such an exciting colt, and we’re happy to find a spot that’s suitable to his conditions. He’s shown us that he has a lot of ability, and hopefully he can show us that again… He’s a horse that has some potential lofty targets ahead, so we wanted to find the right race to entertain potentially prepping into the next Classic. I think we’d look at the Preakness first, and a trip back to New York wouldn’t be [out of the question] either.”

In simple terms, Ryan still believes in Cornucopian. The co-owner believes the horse has a lot of potential and is eager to get him ready for the Preakness Stakes. The G1 race is set to have a $2 million purse, and it’s a great chance for Cornucopian to regain the spotlight he lost after that tough Arkansas Derby. But only time will tell how the horse does in the Allowance race that he will also be competing in at Aqueduct on April 27.

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