Bob Baffert is one of the most successful horse trainers in America. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times, with American Pharaoh, Justify, and Arrogate. His horses are all stars-Arrogate is the last horse to win both the Dubai World Cup and Japan’s prestigious Tokyo Yushun.
What makes Bob Baffert so successful as a trainer?
One reason is that he has a keen understanding of conditioning his horses for racing. For example, he knows when to push them hard in training and when to back off. And he also knows how to keep them calm and focused on race day. Another important factor is that Bob Baffert has access to some of the best horses in the world. Many of them are sold to him before they even hit the racetrack!
Bob Baffert started as a jockey’s agent and assistant trainer, working under several top trainers, including D. Wayne Lukas and Carl Nafzger. His first major success came when he trained 1991 Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold. Owner Ahmed Zayat then hired him to train his horses-and that was a huge turning point for Baffert! With ownership of such stars as American Pharaoh and Arrogate, Bob Baffert has become one of America’s most successful horse trainers.
Baffert began as an exercise rider for Hall of Fame horse trainer Woody Stephens. He rode at small bush tracks until nineteen, although he never had much success as a jockey. In 1976, with dreams to one day train his horses, Baffert moved west and started working as an assistant to future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Whittingham at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood California. His first winner was Fortezza at the Bay Meadows racetrack on January 3, 1982. In 1984 he saddled his first graded stakes winner Cottonade, co-owned by actress Mary Tyler Moore.
Baffert took out his training license in 1978 but did not have an immediate impact until the early 1990s when he began winning important races at Santa Anita Park with Bayakoa, who won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in 1990, and Three Ring who won Santa Anita’s San Pasqual Handicap in 1992 over Cigar. His first trainer’s title came in 1994 when he conditioned Forty Niner to six wins that year, including five straight during mid-summer; this made him the nation’s leading money winner of 1994. He was voted California Horse of the Year three times (1995, 1999, 2002).
1992 – Baffert returned to training horses full-time after working for Charlie Whittingham.
1994 – Became the nation’s leading money winner with Forty Niner.
1995 – Earned California Horse of the Year honors with three horses – Bayakoa, Strike the Gold, and Timber Country.
1998 – Won his first Kentucky Derby with Real Quiet.
2000 – The first trainer to win the Triple Crown in over thirty years with American Pharaoh.
2002- First trainer to win back-to-back runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with Silverbulletday and War Emblem.
2005 – Trainer of Afleet Alex, who won both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
2012 – Nine wins on nine tracks, including Belmont Park, Pimlico Race Course, Santa Anita Park, and Churchill Downs. One of the highlights was becoming the first trainer to sweep all three races in the U.S. Triple Crown series in over thirty-five years with I’ll Have Another.
2014 – Sent out 2014 American Horse of the Year California Chrome, who won 6/7 starts, including six Grade or Group 1 wins before retiring due to injury.
Bob Baffert has an estimated net worth of $40 million, and his Stable is a horse race stable best known for training horses good enough to win the Kentucky Derby. The stable is based in California, USA. Bob Baffert was born on February 24, 1953, in New York City. He raised his career earnings to more than $26 million with Justify’s win at the 2018 Belmont Stakes.
American Pharaoh was Bob Baffert’s first Kentucky Derby winner in 2015, and this special racehorse went on to win the Eclipse Award for a best 3-year-old colt that year! He also took second place in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Before he retired from racing, American Pharaoh had won nine races. This equine star is currently standing at stud at Ashford Stud, where he commands a fee of more than $300 thousand per mare!
Of course, Bob Baffert had another big winner with American Pharaoh’s son Justify. After winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2018, Justify went on to win the Triple Crown, securing his place among history’s greatest racehorses! He is currently standing at stud for a fee of $75 thousand per mare.
Arrogate was yet another Bob Baffert success story-with this star taking first place in both the Dubai World Cup and Japan’s Tokyo Yushun. At the time of writing, he has earned close to $17 million from racing alone. His stud fees are over $100 thousand per mare! One horse trained by Bob Baffert that has not reached the same heights as American Pharaoh, Justify, and Arrogate is Bodemeister. He is a fine horse, but at times in horse racing, you do not have the same luck as the others.
Bob Baffert was born in 1953 and grew up in a farm town in Nogales. He did not follow a traditional path to becoming a horse trainer-in fact; he dropped out of high school at age 16 to become an exercise rider for legendary horse trainer Laz Barrera! Several years later, he started working for D. Wayne Lukas.
In 2001, Baffert’s horses lost five races after one of his assistant trainers was caught giving the horses banned substances. The assistant trainer, David Rosario, later admitted to giving the horses anabolic steroids and was banned from racing for life. Baffert himself was not implicated in the scandal, but it led to race officials’ much closer scrutiny of his Stable. In 2003 he was fined $20,000 for possessing an illegal hypodermic needle.
Bob Baffert has conditioned many champions, including four Breeders’ Cup winners. However, it’s important to note that not all of his horses have had a good experience. Unfortunately, some horses have died under his care. This includes Dixieland Heat, who died of heart failure on May 3, 2007, at Hollywood Park Racetrack after breaking his right foreleg during the first race of the day. Baffert was also fined $5,000 for violating California state safety rules.
He has also had to make amends with some horses he believed were drugged without his consent, including Point Given and Street Sense (American Horse of the Year). He alleged that three different trainers (Willie Martinez, Bill Mott, and Steve Asmussen) had given horses illegal drugs through injections commonly used to mask pain or problems with a horse’s legs under their care. His allegations have since come to fruition as both trainers have been suspended for violating drug rules.
Despite his troubles, Baffert has continued to be one of the most successful trainers in American horse racing. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2012, he was voted Trainer of the Year by the Eclipse Award voters and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Thoroughbred Club of America. In 2014, he sent out 2014 American Horse of the Year California Chrome, who won six out of seven starts, including six Grade or Group 1 wins before being retired due to injury. Baffert’s accomplishments have solidified his place as one of the best trainers in American horse racing history.
He has saddled more than 100 graded stakes winners, including four Breeders’ Cup winners for twelve championships and four Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Trainer. He has had five horses compete in the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, of which his best results were two places by Creachadoir in 2002 and Mubtaahij in 2015. Baffert has also become known for his ability to develop 2-year-olds, having conditioned many juvenile champions, including Point Given, War Emblem, Street Sense, Lookin Lucky, and American Pharoah.
Bob Baffert has been a leading Thoroughbred horse racing conditioner in the United States since 1994. He has conditioned many champions, including four Breeders’ Cup winners and four Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Trainer. In 2012, his horses won nine races on nine different tracks, including wins at Santa Anita Park, Churchill Downs, Belmont Park, and Pimlico Race Course. One of the highlights was becoming the first trainer to sweep all three races in the U.S. Triple Crown series in over thirty-five years with I’ll Have Another. In 2014, he sent out 2014 American Horse of the Year California Chrome, who won six out of seven starts, including six Grade or Group 1 wins before being retired due to injury.
In 2000, Baffert became the first trainer since John W. Russell in 1884 and 1885 to win the Triple Crown with Real Quiet, who won the Derby and Preakness Stakes but lost the Belmont Stakes a nose. In 2002, he won his second Kentucky Derby with War Emblem, who went on to win the Preakness Stakes but finished second in both the Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic, losing by a combined length after a rough trip down the stretch. In 2015, I’ll Have Another became his third Triple Crown winner after winning both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes but was scratched from competing in The Belmont due to injury. Baffert is the only trainer with two horses to win both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes but not the Belmont Stakes, who won all three races over five years.
He has an especially good reputation for developing young 2-year-olds into precocious 3-year-olds. He was mentored by Hall of Fame inductee Bud Delp who had trained champions Seattle Slew and Real Quiet himself. Early in his career, Baffert was sent some of Delp’s old notebooks from his days as an assistant for Angel Penna. Sr. Baffertcredits this as how he learned what it took to condition a racehorse properly. In 2011 he sent out 121 winners, 51 of which were 2-year-olds, more than any other trainer.
Most of his success has come in races restricted to horses bred in the Southern California area, where he makes his home year-round at Santa Anita Park. Early in his career, Baffert had less success outside Southern California but gradually improved on this as he got older. By 2012 he had conditioned four Grade I winners on the East Coast, including Preakness Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky and Breeders’ Cup race winners Game On Dude and Little Mike. He voted for the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer that year, becoming only the second trainer after D. Wayne Lukas to win it four times since its inception in 1971.
In 1978, Bob Baffert began his training career with six yearlings, which he bought for $12,500. By 1984, he was training full time and earning over $1 million a year in prize money. Bob Baffert went on to win his first Kentucky Derby as an owner with the legendary Cigar. He is now known as one of America’s most successful horse trainers!
What does it take to become a top-notch horse trainer? According to Bob Baffert, you’ll need a deep understanding of horses and a willingness to work hard every day of the week. But it all starts with having a passion for horses-you’ll never be able to train them well unless you love them! Only one thing matters: making sure your horses are healthy and happy.
Bob Baffert is an American-born professional horse trainer. Since 1994, Baffert has been a leading Thoroughbred horse racing conditioner in the United States. In 2012, his horses won nine races on nine different tracks, including wins at Santa Anita Park, Churchill Downs, Belmont Park, and Pimlico Race Course. One of the highlights was becoming the first trainer to sweep all three races in the U.S. Triple Crown series in over thirty-five years with I’ll Have Another.
Baffert has been inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and is only the second trainer to have won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer four times. His horses have earned over $101 million in career earnings.
Baffert has been a leading trainer at Kentucky Derby in the past decade, having won the race in 2015 and 2017 with American Pharoah and Justify, respectively. This makes Baffert only the second person to have trained more than one winner of this race after James E. Fitzsimmons, who won it five times between 1901 and 1907.
In 2018, he became the first trainer in history to come in second place for three consecutive years with different horses when McKinzie finished runner-up in Belmont Stakes to Country House. Bob Baffert has made 2,445 starts with a win percentage of 27%. He has managed to win a total of 662 games. And has had a total of 108 different stakes winners.
Baffert is also a great teacher; he has produced 6 Eclipse Award Winners for Outstanding Apprentice Trainer and 13 Eclipse Award Winners for Outstanding Trainer. Some of his best-known horses include American Pharoah, Justify, Game On Dude, Point Given, and Silver Charm.
Despite all these accomplishments, Bob Baffert remains a humble man. When asked about his success, he says, “I’ve been very lucky. I have good horses and good people working for me”. This attitude is one of the reasons why Bob Baffert is one of the most respected trainers in the horse racing industry.