Baffert registers 2,000th victory

Bob Baffert lifts his congratulatory sign with the help of assistant trainer Jim Barnes (Benoit Photos) Turning for home in Sunday’s 3RD race at Hollywood Park, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert had the pleasure of seeing his two runners pull well clear of the rest of the field, certain in the knowledge that he would soon celebrate his 2,000th victory. The only unresolved question was which one would do the honors. The battling juveniles were both sired by past Baffert stars, and produced by graded stakes-placed Baffert trainees. First-time starter Tokubetsu (Congaree), out of Grade 2-placed Fort Lauderdale (Montbrook), rallied to put his head in front in midstretch, but longtime leader FREE POURIN (Roman Ruler), out of Grade 1-placed stakes heroine Miss Wineshine (Wolf Power [SAf]), fought back to reclaim the advantage and inched away by three-quarters of a length. With Joe Talamo in the irons, Free Pourin covered six furlongs on the Cushion Track in 1:11 to break his maiden, and give his trainer the milestone win. Adding further meaning to the moment, Free Pourin is a homebred owned by Mike Pegram, who was instrumental in Baffert’s switch from training Quarter Horses to Thoroughbreds more than two decades ago.

Some of Baffert’s leading performers have sported the Pegram colors —
two-time champion Silverbulletday, who was voted into the Hall of Fame along
with her trainer in 2009; champion Real Quiet, who missed sweeping the Triple
Crown by inches in the 1998 Belmont S. (G1); Captain Steve, winner of the 2001
Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1); and last year’s champion
two-year-old colt Lookin at Lucky, who is a lock for another Eclipse Award as
champion three-year-old colt.

Besides Real Quiet’s agonizing near-miss, Baffert won two legs of the Triple
Crown on three other occasions: with Hall of Famer Silver Charm (1997 Kentucky
Derby [G1] and Preakness [G1]), Hall of Famer Point Given (2001 Preakness and
Belmont) and War Emblem (2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness).

Baffert’s three Kentucky Derby trophies put him in a tie with “Sunny Jim”
Fitzsimmons and Max Hirsch, behind only Ben Jones (six winners) and “Dick”
Thompson and D. Wayne Lukas (four apiece), on the all-time Derby list.

Lookin at Lucky became Baffert’s fifth Preakness winner this spring. Thus
Baffert is tied for second in number of Preakness victories, with Lukas and T.J.
Healey, two behind leader R.W. Walden.

Baffert has also trained champions Indian Blessing, Vindication, Midshipman,
Midnight Lute and Chilukki. Other notable pupils include Indian Charlie, General
Challenge, El Corredor, Excellent Meeting, Officer and Thirty
Slews, who handed Baffert his first big Thoroughbred win in the 1992 Breeders’
Cup Sprint (G1).

The winner of three straight Eclipse Awards (1997-99), Baffert also led in
national earnings four straight years (1998-2001). Ranked sixth on the all-time
list of trainers by career earnings, Baffert has sent out the earners of a grand
total of $155,142,769 through the conclusion of Sunday’s races.

Born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, Arizona, Baffert was the fourth of
seven children. He spent his childhood on a cattle ranch near the Mexican
border, which at the same time gave him an opportunity to groom and gallop his
father’s Quarter Horses. Baffert initially hoped to become a jockey, and plied
that trade for a year following his graduation from high school in 1971.
Although he won 30 races, he found it difficult to maintain his riding weight,
and decided instead to pursue studies at the University of Arizona’s Racetrack
Industry Program. A year after graduation, he began training a small string of
Quarter Horses at Rillito Downs in Tucson, later shifting his base to Los
Alamitos in 1983.

Baffert enjoyed success in the Quarter Horse game, training four champions in
that discipline, but Pegram, along with Hal Earnhardt, prevailed upon him to
turn his attention to Thoroughbreds, and the rest is history.