Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s Kentucky Derby (G1) candidates both went
Dortmund (Big Brown), who breezed at Santa Anita Saturday, shipped to
“My horses are doing really well,” Baffert said. “They worked well and went
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Dortmund, a large, striking animal, drew a lot of attention as he made his
way around the track under his exercise rider Dana Barnes. Later, dozens of
people took thousands of images of the son of 2008 Derby winner Big Brown
receiving his morning bath.
With a win on is resume over the surface, Dortmund looks comfortable at
Churchill Downs.
“He goes over this track so much better than he does at Santa Anita, which is
crazy,” Baffert said. “Santa Anita is a little bit harder, but I can tell from
his movement that he is a little more fluid over this track. I was really happy
with what I saw of him today. He looks good.”
American Pharoah was clearly interested in doing more than jog during his
time on the track.
“He was a little fresh,” Baffert said. “He had a walk day and anytime they
walk one day they are a little fresh. He looks great. He looks fantastic. He
looks really healthy. Their coats look great. It’s a matter of we need some
racing luck.”
In other Kentucky Derby news:
U.A.E. Derby (UAE-G2) winner Mubtaahij (Dubawi) was on the track at Churchill
Downs for the first time after the renovation break. The Irish-bred jogged one
mile and cantered one mile under exercise rider Lisa Moncrieff.
“He jogged a lap under Lisa and she said he was going so easy, so we sent him
for a nice one lap canter after that,” trainer Mike de Kock said. “It was an
ideal start to his time in Louisville. I am very pleased with his fitness
level.”
The trainer met with the media later Tuesday morning for a
question-and-answer session at which he shared more of his impressions from
Mubtaahij’s highly anticipated appearance.
“He is quite a character,” de Kock said. “He doesn’t get too fazed by much.
This morning was his first morning out there and he didn’t raise a sweat at all.
He took everything in.”
Even before his devastating eight-length win in Dubai, de Kock was thinking
about the Kentucky Derby for a colt that he suspected would be mentally and
physically up to the tall task of shipping halfway around the world.
“The key thing is to be open-minded,” de Kock said. “We are open-minded about
this trip and we are hoping to do it again in the future. Then we will at least
have the beauty of hindsight. I probably found the worst year ever to attempt to
try and run in the Kentucky Derby, but the way he won in Dubai — I’m sure the
jury is still out on the horses he beat — but he did it in a manner that gave
one confidence that you could put the horse on the plane and hopefully he will
be competitive.
“If he had just won, I wouldn’t have even bothered. He was geared down to
win. (Jockey) Christophe Soumillon, who is a good judge, got off and said, ‘We
must take our chances.’ The horse must have given him some sort of feel.
“He’s given us a bit of a feel, too. At the end of the day, it is a sport,
and it is a wonderful sport. Unless horses, athletes take each other on from
other countries, who is ever going to know who is the best and who has the goods
and who hasn’t?”
While riding assignments have been set for three of Todd Pletcher’s runners,
the mount on Stanford (Malibu Moon) is still up in the air. Pletcher had thought
he’d be able to resolve that issue during a call with his owners Monday, but the
deed isn’t yet done.
The trainer said he thought Florent Geroux — who rode Stanford to his
second-place effort in the Louisiana Derby (G2) — likely had the inside track,
but that he wasn’t all the way there yet.
For the full Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks (G1) tracknotes for April 28,
please click
here.
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