Kentucky Derby: Trainer Bob Baffert has sentimental attachment toKentucky Derby favorite Bodemeister
Bob Baffert calls his son, Bode, over for the cameras. The
boy, a shy 7-year-old, relents as his mother brushes a mess of brown hair from
his eyes.
Then the boy shows what he's learned from his father, the witty trainer
whose hard-driving style has led to three trips to the winner's circle at the
Kentucky Derby. "Who are you rooting for?" Bode is asked as he stares at a giant microphone hovering near his head.
"I don't know," Bode says, scratching his head and twisting his face to look confused.
"OK, I guess I'll root for Bodemeister," the boy says after some goading -- and a reminder the 4-to-1 morning-line favorite for the 138th running of horse racing's most prestigious race happens to be named for him.
Baffert, who last claimed the roses at Churchill Downs in 2002 with War Emblem, will saddle a brilliant but untested colt in the Derby, which is scheduled for 3:23 p.m. (PT) on Saturday and will be broadcast by NBC (pre-race coverage begins at 1 p.m.). Bodemeister didn't race as a 2-year-old; no such horse has won the 11/4-mile Derby in 130 years. But Bodemeister, who will be ridden by Mike Smith and break from the No. 6 position, won the Arkansas Derby by 9½ lengths.
"He's been fantastic all week," Baffert said. "He's worked well all over the track and seems to like it. He was that way going into Arkansas, and we'll need the race to be there in the end."
Baffert has been
in the spotlight -- not that he minds -- for more than his
horse. He suffered a heart attack in Dubai and has since dropped 10 pounds. He
wakes each morning to work out on a treadmill, joking that he's always looking
for a spotter to catch him if he falls.
"I feel good," he said. "My heart feels fine, and I hope it
gets going a little bit on Saturday as they come down toward that finish
line." Though he often espouses an unsentimental view of his work -- "My job is to work for the owners, who are trying to reach a very expensive piece of real estate" he said -- Baffert's health scare and the close association of the horse to his son have given this week a different feeling.
The colt got his name more by accident than through an actual tie to Baffert's only son with his wife, Jill. When owner Ahmed Zayat asked for a suggestion Baffert offered his son's nickname as a place-holder only because someone had just walked by and said it.
It stuck, and now Baffert's next chance at moving into a three-way tie for second place on the list of most Derby wins has special meaning.
"Winning the Kentucky Derby, that's the sort of memory that doesn't really fade," Baffert said. "But we need to update that memory a little bit."
· Rousing Sermon, trained by Northern
California's Jerry Hollendorfer, will break from post No. 7.
The 3-year-old colt will be the fifth Derby starter for Hollendorfer, who
sent out Eye of the Tiger (who finished fifth) in 2003, Cause to Believe (13th)
in 2006, Bwana Bull (15th) in 2007 and Chocolate Candy (fifth) in 2009. Rousing Sermon is 50-1 on the morning line and will be ridden by Jose Lezcano.
· Rosie Napravnik became the first female
jockey to win the $1 million Kentucky Oaks, keeping Believe You Can near the
front from the start before pulling away from Broadway's Alibi in the 11/8-mile
race at Churchill Downs on Friday.
"It's great for all the women in the industry, in the world. I'm just
happy," the 24-year-old rider said after her three-quarters of a length
victory.It was trainer Larry Jones' second Oaks victory after winning in 2008 with Proud Spell.
In the fillies' counterpart to the Derby, Napravnik finished second last year behind Plum Pretty aboard St. John's River.
· Jockey Robby Albarado was indefinitely
suspended from racing by Churchill Downs stewards after he was arrested by
police and charged with accosting a woman who said she was trying to break up
with him. The arrest came hours before he was scheduled to ride Hard Not to
Like in the Oaks.
Source: Kentucky Derby
