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Trainer, Bob Baffert

Trainer, Bob Baffert

Bob Baffert

Born: Jan. 13, 1953, Nogales, Arizona

Residence: Arcadia and Del Mar, California

Family: wife Jill, sons Bode, Taylor, Canyon & Forest; daughter Savannah.

Web site: www.bobbaffert.com

Breeders’ Cup Record: 119-15-17-6 | $30,065,000

• Award winners: Champion Trainer (1997, 1998, 1999 and 2015); of the Year (, 2018; , 2015 and , 2001); Champion 3- Year-Old (, 1997; , 1998; Point Given, 2001; , 2002, , 2010; American Pharoah, 2015; , 2016; , 2017 and Justify, 2018); Champion 3-Year-Old (, 1999 and , 2017); Champion 2-Year-Old (, 2002; , 2008; Lookin At Lucky, 2009; American Pharoah 2014 and , 2018); Champion 2-Year-Old Filly (Silverbulletday, 1998; , 1999 and , 2007); Champion Sprinter (, 2007 and , 2016); Champion Female Sprinter (Indian Blessing, 2008).

• Following his third straight Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) victory in 2016, Baffert now leads all trainers on the all-time Breeders’ Cup earnings list and increased his totals by adding a win in the 2018 Juvenile (G1) with Game Winner ... The 2016 Classic win came when the lightly raced Arrogate pulled a mild over . One year earlier, American Pharoah, who earlier in the year became the first horse in 37 years to the Triple Crown, concluded his stellar year with a gate to wire victory at . In 2015, gave the trainer his first Classic victory at Santa Anita.

• Baffert padded his earnings in 2019 when McKinzie finished second in the Longines Classic and Bast finished third in the Juvenile (G1).

• Baffert failed to win a fourth straight Classic in 2017 when Arrogate dead-heated for fifth, but he did finish second in the race with Collected and third with West Coast, who went on to be named champion 3-year-old. He also finished second in that year’s Distaff (G1) with Abel Tasman, second in the Juvenile with Solomini and second in the Juvenile Fillies with Alluring Star.

• After an up and down start to the year in which Baffert’s top 3-year-olds Nadal and Charlatan went to the sidelines and the entire Triple Crown series was rescheduled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Baffert tied the legendary Ben Jones with six (G1) victories when led gate to wire to win the “Run for the Roses” Sept. 5 in a mild upset over . The , who earned an automatic berth to the Classic with his win in the Haskell Invitational (G1) at Monmouth Park July 18, subsequently finished second in the Stakes (G1) to the filly in his most recent start.

• Became the second trainer, also joining Jones, to win a second Triple Crown when he took Justify from maiden winner to Triple Crown winner in the span of just 111 days. The colt retired undefeated in six starts after the (G1) and stood his first season at Coolmore in , Kentucky, in 2019.

• Baffert earned his first Triple Crown in 2015 when (G2) and (G1) winner American Pharoah won the , (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) to become the first horse since in 1978 to win the Triple Crown. American Pharoah was retired to stud and currently stands stud at Coolmore.

• Prior to American Pharoah, Baffert had won two legs of the Triple Crown four times with Hall of Fame member Silver Charm (1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness), Real Quiet (1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness), Hall of Fame member Point Given (2001 Preakness and Belmont) and War Emblem (2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness) ... He also won the Preakness with champion Lookin At Lucky in 2010 and overall, has won the middle leg of the Triple Crowns a record seven times … In 2012, he ran second in all three legs, with in the Derby and Preakness and with in the Belmont.

• Thanks to his victories in the $6 million Classic, $12 million Pegasus World Cup and $10 million World Cup, Arrogate retired as the North America’s richest racehorse with $17,422,600 in earnings.

• In 2012, Baffert suffered a heart attack in Dubai after traveling there to run in the (G1). He had three stents inserted during a procedure in Dubai after doctors discovered that two arteries were blocked. He returned to the United States several days later and quickly recovered.

• Has won the Dubai World Cup (G1) three times: Silver Charm, 1998; , 2001 and Arrogate, 2017.

• Has won the three times with Abel Tasman (2014), Plum Pretty (2011) and Hall of Fame member Silverbulletday (1999).

• Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009 in just his second year of eligibility.

• Received the 1997 Mr. Fitz Award from the National Turf Writers Association and the 1997 Big Sport of Turfdom Award from the Turf Publicists of America.

• Trained four Quarter Horse champions, including 1986 world champion Gold Coast Express, after beginning his Quarter career at Rillito Downs in Tucson and then moving to Los Alamitos in 1983 ... Won the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in 1986 with Gold Coast Express and in 1988 with Shawnee’s Favorite ... Made transition to during the late 1980s, mostly due to the encouragement of owners Mike Pegram and Hal Earnhardt.

• He gave up his Quarter Horse division in 1991 after recording a stakes triple in the California Cup during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.

• The fourth of seven children, Baffert grew up on an Arizona cattle ranch near the Mexican border and got started in the horse business grooming and galloping Quarter owned by his father ... After graduating from high school in 1971, took a year to pursue his dream of becoming a . He won 30 races, but grew tired of trying to maintain jockey weight, so he enrolled in the University of Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program.

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