Irene Michaels and Bob Baffert in Saratoga Springs, August 9, 2016
PHOTO COURTESY OF IRENE MICHAELS
Robert "Bob" Baffert is known in horse racing circles as one of the most successful trainers of horses in the history of the game.
Baffert has been around horses virtually his whole life. Growing up on a ranch he would practice racing Quarter Horses as early as age 10. A few years later he would work as a jockey near Nogales, Arizona close to the family ranch.
He began training Quarter Horses in his late teens and quickly developed a reputation and got more work. He switched to training thoroughbreds in the 1980's after moving to California and in 1992 he won his first Breeders Cup race with Thirty Slews.
Since then, Baffert has had a long history of success which has resulted in him being named to the Lone Star Park Hall of Fame in 2007 and the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
It took him until 1997 to train a horse that won one of the Big Three races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes) leading Silver Charm to wins in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes that year and a second in the Belmont.
In Baffert's career so far he has trained horses that have won 4 Kentucky Derbies, 6 Preakness Stakes and 2 Belmont Stakes. In addition, he has 11 Breeders Cup wins to his credit as well as 2 International wins at the Dubai World Cup in 1998 and 2001.
Clearly one of Baffert's top achievements was in 2015 with American Pharaoh. He trained the colt to victories in all three of the major races that year to win the Triple Crown. American Pharaoh became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years and Baffert, at age 62, became the second oldest trainer to do so.
After American Pharaoh's win at the Belmont he next raced a few months later at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. In front of a crowd of 60,00. He won the Haskell by a little more than two lengths.
Just a few weeks later, the Triple Crown winner raced in the Travers Stakes at the legendary Saratoga Race track in Saratoga Springs, New York. Baffert was a bit reluctant since it would be the second in under a month that American Pharaoh would fly across the country for a race since he trains in California.
Baffert relented and his horse ran at Travers but finished second. The Saratoga track has been dubbed "Graveyard of Champions" since the only Triple Crown winner to win the Travers was Whirlaway back in 1941.
Baffert has won many awards during his long career. He won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer four times (1997, 1998, 1999 and 2015). He also had a four year run winning the United States Champion Trainer by Earnings from 1998 through 2001.
He has also trained many other great horses over the years including Lookin' at Lucky, Real Quiet and War Emblem.
I was very excited to run into Bob this season at Saratoga Springs, while I there for The Whitney Stakes and the Fasig-Tipton Sale.
There is little question that Bob Baffert is one of the all-time greats in sports history.