Washington (AFP) – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert returns to the Kentucky Derby in search of a seventh victory on Saturday, but the Michael McCarthy-trained Journalism is the California colt favored to capture the first jewel in US flat racing’s Triple Crown. Baffert, the polarizing 72-year-old whose Kentucky Derby winners include American Pharoah and Justify — two horses that went on to complete the Triple Crown — is back for the 151st Run for the Roses for the first time since 2021, when his Medina Spirit crossed the line first but was disqualified after failing a post-race drug test.
Baffert was initially banned by Churchill Downs for two years, but in 2023 the iconic Louisville track extended his punishment, accusing him of continuing “to peddle a false narrative” concerning the drug test of Medina Spirit — who died later in 2021. Reinstated in July, Baffert says he is delighted to be back at the event that he says is key to US racing. “It’s our Masters,” said Baffert, who has saddled 17 winners across the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. “It’s the race that defines your career.”
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Baffert, who is tied for the record with six Kentucky Derby victories, may have seen his best chance for a seventh this year evaporate when Rodriguez was scratched with a foot bruise. That left him saddling only Citizen Bull — last year’s top 2-year-old whose Derby stock slipped with a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby. Rodriguez co-owner Tom Ryan said the colt was withdrawn “out of an abundance of caution.” The departure of Rodriguez allowed Baeza into the field for the $5 million, 1 1/4-mile race, but the field was reduced to 19 on Friday when Grande was scratched with a foot bruise. Grande owner Mike Repole was irked that the horse was scratched on the order of veterinarians, saying a “slight cracked heel” had been improving and that diagnostic tests had come back “clean.”
On Saturday, most eyes will be on Journalism, who arrives on a four-race winning streak that includes three graded stakes wins — most recently the Grade One Santa Anita Derby, where he overcame a troubled trip to beat Baeza by three-quarters of a length. The colt will break from the eighth post under jockey Umberto Rispoli and was installed as the early 3-1 favorite, but he has never raced outside California and has never raced in such a large field. “Journalism is a pretty intelligent horse,” McCarthy said. “He is a mature, well-broke, well-schooled horse, and he doesn’t seem to let things upset him much, which will all work in his favor come Saturday.”
Two horses expected to challenge Journalism, the Bill Mott-trained Sovereignty and Arkansas Derby-winner Sandman, drew outside posts. Sovereignty will start from the 18th post and was priced at 5-1 while the Mark Casse-trained Sandman was priced at 6-1 after drawing the 17th post. After disappointment last year for Forever Young — third in a dramatic three-way photo finish behind Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone — two Japanese raiders will try to give the country a first Kentucky Derby victory. Admire Daytona, trained by Yukihiro Kato, arrives off a UAE Derby triumph on April 5 while Luxor Cafe, a Kentucky-bred son of American Pharoah trained in Japan by Noriyuki Hori, won the Fukuryu Stakes by five lengths to clinch his Kentucky Derby berth via the Japan Road series.
© 2024 AFP
