Bob Baffert Making an attempt for Two Instantly – West Virginia Derby
WEST VIRGINIA – As is the case with all primary sports activities, Thoroughbred racing reveres its ancient figures – Eddie Arcaro, “Simple Ben” Jones, Invoice Shoemaker, and, after all, horses equivalent to Mano’Conflict, Quotation and Secretariat.
And it kind of feels a good estimate that during long run many years, Bob Baffert might be seen in the similar way. Baffert, now age 58, has three times been venerated with Eclipse Awards as North The us’s remarkable horse instructor. And he used to be a 2009 inductee to the Nationwide Museum of Racing’s Corridor of Reputation in Saratoga Springs, New York.
His prominence has prolonged past Thoroughbred business publications and sports activities pages. Baffert has been featured in articles in “The New Yorker” and “Gents’s Quarterly.” He is good, fast with a quip and could be a dream come true for a publicist – if he wanted one (which he does not).
This coming Saturday, Baffert will run Prayer for Aid within the forty second version of the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer On line casino Racetrack & Hotel. In doing so, Baffert might be taking pictures for his 2nd consecutive victory within the tournament.
Guess at the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer On line casino Racetrack at Off Monitor Making a bet. West Virginia Derby making a bet on-line.
In 2010, the Baffert-trained Cohesion Level registered a front-running one-length victory at Mountaineer. In his earlier get started, Cohesion Level had simply gained the Grade 3 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows close to Des Moines. Prayer for Aid’s most up-to-date effort came about on June 25 – in, no longer unusually, the Iowa Derby. He gained the 1 1/16-mile race by means of two lengths in an outstanding time of one:41.73. What has labored ahead of would possibly neatly paintings once more.
Saturday will mark the fourth time Baffert has run a horse within the West Virginia Derby. Previous to Cohesion Level’s effort, he had completed 2nd with American Spirit in 1999 and 6th with Wanna Runner in 2006. Baffert got here to Mountaineer with American Spirit – at the day of the race he had dinner within the clubhouse along with his then fiance, Jill (who’s now his spouse), and expressed a marginally of confusion for being in what he referred to as “hilltop nation.”
American Spirit and Cohesion Level therefore got here to Mountaineer within the corporate of assistant running shoes. Prayer for Aid, who’s scheduled to reach at Mountaineer Monday night, might be beneath the care of assistant Wayne McDonnell.
Run an Equineline file on Baffert’s occupation stats and you can see that his Thoroughbred stakes ratings fill greater than 11 pages. They start with March Pace’s
victory within the $2,000 Turquoise Futurity at Rillito Park in Baffert’s local Arizona on April 4, 1982. They lately conclude with Irish Gypsy’s victory within the Grade 2 A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park on July 16 of this 12 months. His stakes triumphs general 534, with 310 of them happening in graded occasions – Baffert’s occupation win ratio in graded corporate is 22.9%. However possibly probably the most spectacular statistic on Baffert’s resume is his occupation win ratio with favorites, which is 39.6%. He is aware of the place
to identify his horses.
All through a length that prolonged from Might of 1997 via Might of 2002, Baffert gained 8 of the 17 Triple Crown races that had been run. In 1997, he got here inside three-quarters of a size within the Belmont Stakes of sweeping the Triple Crown with Silver Appeal. The next 12 months, he got here inside a nostril within the Belmont of doing the similar with Actual
All instructed, Baffert skilled Thoroughbreds have gained 2,100 races and garnered over $167.6 million in handbag income. Prayer for Aid would convey the income determine to greater than $168 million with a win in Saturday’s West Virginia Derby.
Prayer for Aid used to be bred in Kentucky by means of George Aschinger. As a weanling, the darkish brown colt used to be consigned to the 2008 Keeneland November Sale, however failed to achieve his reserve value (bidding on him handiest went to $39,000). Aschinger therefore consigned Prayer for Aid to the 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and this time he used to be offered for $80,000 to Ahmed Zayat, a Baffert shopper.
Leap Get started, the sire of Prayer for Aid, gained the Grade 2 Saratoga Particular (a 6 1/2 furlong tournament) at age two. Prayer for Aid’s dam, Sparklin Lil, used to be a limited stakes winner (she used to be bred by means of John Franks in Louisiana) on the one mile and seventy-yard distance as a two-year-old. So there is a contact of the speed-on-top/distance-on-the-bottom aggregate in Prayer for Aid’s fast heritage. Bloodstock professionals ceaselessly handle, alternatively, that one has to return no less than 4 to 5 era to evaluate a racehorse’s true doable. Achieve this with Prayer for Aid and one reveals crosses with Secretariat, Buckpasser and Northern Dancer – offering Prayer for Aid with some spectacular pedigree credentials.
Prayer for Aid broke his maiden on October 1 of ultimate 12 months at Hollywood Park for a $50,000 claiming tag. Since then he has been stakes-placed and a graded stakes winner. Curiously, Sparklin Lil broke her maiden for a claiming tag, after which changed into a more than one stakes winner. Hanging horses in the fitting puts on the proper occasions is a part of a a hit instructor’s task. And no person’s higher at doing that than Baffert.
