SANTA ANITA DERBY HIGHLIGHTS BAD WEEK FOR BAFFERT

Two weeks ago Bob Baffert was sitting in a pretty powerful position with his crop of three-year-olds, but now his situation looks completely different. Charlatan who won the Arkansas Derby will not make the gate for the Kentucky Derby and Belmont and is likely to only enter the Preakness which will be run in October after the other two legs of the Triple Crown.

A filling was discovered in a front ankle and it will sideline him for a while. In addition Charlatan tested positive for an overage of lidocaine, and his connections are sweating on the results of a follow up test. Nadal who won the other leg of the Arkansas Derby has been retired after suffering a fracture in his left front leg a week ago. He will enter stud after he recovers from surgery.

Baffert’s other big hope was the unbeaten AUTHENTIC, but he came off second best in the Santa Anita Derby which was run on Saturday minus a live audience again. The race is usually worth $1million but for obvious reasons it was reduced to $400.000. Going off at 1-2 odds in the seven horse field, the race went to 9-4 second choice HONOR A.P. who reversed the tables in only his fourth career start.

HONOR A P

The son of Honor Code was ridden by Mike Smith and is trained by John Shirreffs. In the race which was run on firm ground Authentic swerved at the start and had to run the entire race wide which ultimately cost the leggy and free running colt a lot of ground. Honor A.P. was well placed throughout the race but made a big
sweeping move a couple of furlongs out and then pulled away easy to win going away by about three lengths. The lightly raced colt has now won two of his four lifetime starts and propels himself immediately into the Triple Crown picture.

However on the same card Baffert’s day was salvaged by the victory of IMPROBABLE in the Hollywood Gold Cup and the debut victory of a $3.65 million colt called CEZANNE who is entered for the Kentucky Derby.

To set the tone for Baffert’s bad week his star performer ARROGATE had to be euthanized mid week after succumbing to some kind of neurological disease. After he fell sick they spent four days performing all kinds of tests but to no avail, and it was with great sadness they had to put him down. In a five month spell in 2016-17 the horse won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus Gold Cup and Dubai World Cup.