Thursday, May 02, 2002
Baffert steals show at Derby draw
By Neil Schmidt nschmidt@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LOUISVILLE — Bob Baffert insisted four weeks ago he would still attend the Kentucky Derby despite the lack of an entrant. He somehow wound up with a work load.
He entered two horses Wednesday, more than all but one other trainer in the full field of 20 horses (Aiden O'Brien of Ireland also has two). Because Baffert kept secret his plan to enter Danthebluegrassman, it was evident the man who for years regaled Derby media hordes is toning down his talk time.
“We didn't say anything about it because we didn't want anyone bugging us about him,” Baffert said at the post-position draw. “The minute I put him in the (race), I turned off my cell phone.”
Harlan's Holiday was installed as the morning-line favorite at 9-2. Buddha and Came Home are next, each at 5-1. Baffert's two entrants have long odds: War Emblem at 20-1, Danthebluegrassman at 50-1.
In recent years, Baffert had become this event's ubiquitous figure. With Saturday's race, he will have had 13 Derby horses since 1996, before which he never had one.
Baffert has won six of the past 15 Triple Crown races, including two Derbys. He has won the earnings title the past four years, and he won three consecutive Eclipse Awards as the nation's top trainer from 1997-99.
Yet this time he arrives at Churchill Downs with a sheepish grin. He had War Emblem land in his lap when Prince Ahmed Salman of The Thoroughbred Corporation bought the horse April 10 and asked Baffert to train him. Then Baffert didn't let on that he was even considering Danthebluegrassman — who ran eighth in the Santa Anita Derby — and looked as though he reached a bit by entering him here.
He said Wednesday morning, before he announced his second entrant, that the annual Derby media crush had worn on him.
“I loved it at first,” he said. “But now I see you guys show up sometimes and think: "Go interview Richard Mandella. Go interview Kenny McPeek. Anybody else.'”
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has said Baffert will end up the winningest Derby trainer in history. With two victories and a runner-up between 1996 and '98, he was a media darling and fan favorite. But the bloom came off the rose here in 2000 when there was backlash to his sexist quips about female trainer Jenine Sahadi.
“I'm known to stick my foot in my mouth, and everyone (in the media) is waiting for that golden moment,” Baffert said Wednesday.
Baffert admits he was lucky to get War Emblem. In winning the April6 Illinois Derby, the horse earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 112, best by a 3-year-old this year. When then-owner Russell Reineman said he planned to skip the Derby, Salman made a call and bought the horse for more than $900,000.
Baffert brought Danthebluegrassman with him to Louisville to see if he trained well at Churchill Downs, and he said the horse excelled in workouts here.
With 24 horses poised to enter, the field was restricted to the 20 with the highest graded-stakes earnings. The Derby has had 20 or more starters 12 times, but this would be the first full field since 1984.
The morning-line odds for Harlan's Holiday are the highest for a favorite since they were first posted in the race day program in 1949. Derby handicapper Mike Battaglia of Edgewood, Ky., said that wasn't for a lack of confidence in the favorite.
“It's just a balanced field,” he said. “With 20 betting entries, I don't think any single horse is going to get a lot of support.”
Assuming all 20 horses start, the purse will be a Derby-record $1,205,000, with a record winner's share of $905,000.
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Baffert steals show at Derby draw
