Bob Baffert

One-for-one Heartland (c, 3, Justify--Sambuca Classica, by Cat Thief), whose debut maiden victory in 2023 stamped him as a 'TDN Rising Star' under Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, has been retired from racing and will stand at WinStar in 2025. His introductory fee will be $10,000 S&N. "One might ask, 'Why stand a maiden winner?'," said WinStar President, CEO, and Racing Manager Elliott Walden. "Well, he looks the part, he's by Justify, and he's a half-brother to Classic Empire. It makes perfect sense to us because we know what we...

Juddmonte homebred Show Card romped home the easiest of winners in the Tranquility Lake Stakes at Del Mar Monday. The bay filly sat just off pacesetter Yuki through a quarter in :23.42 and was pressing that longshot as the field of five bunched up down the backstretch as the half went up in :47.25. Show Card took charge approaching the stretch and strode clear down the lane to an effortless victory. Favored Super Shine was left at the gate and trailed the field early. Rank up the backstretch, she moved...

GI Arkansas Derby winner Muth (Good Magic) marked his return to the races Sunday with a victory in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. Checking off the initial box on his road back, the $2 million OBS March topper is now poised to take the next step on the road to this fall's Breeders' Cup, which will be held at Del Mar Nov. 4-5. "He's always been a really smart horse," said trainer Bob Baffert. "You can place him wherever you want to. He had to move a little...

Early Kentucky Derby favorite Muth faced several twists and turns earlier in the 2024 season. Despite winning the GII San Vincente Stakes in January and the GI Arkansas Derby in March, Muth was precluded from running on the First Saturday in May due to his trainer's forced exclusion from the Classic over the past three seasons. Shipped to Pimlico two weeks later for the GI Preakness, the colt spiked a temperature which forced him out of the second jewel of the Triple Crown, shuttling him to the sidelines. Given plenty...

Cicero Farms homebred Hope Road (Quality Road) rolled in the GIII Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday afternoon and proved her two prior five-length wins for trainer Bob Baffert were no fluke. Beginning in the care of John Sadler, last summer at the seaside oval the then-juvenile was the runner-up twice against maiden special weights before being well-beaten in the GI Del Mar Derby. Making the barn switch in September, the filly broke through with a strong performance at Santa Anita in mid-June to start her 3-year-old season...

1st-Del Mar, $75,500, Msw, 8-31, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.07, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. NON COMPLIANT (f, 2, Tiz the Law--Sensitively {GSP, $190,415}, by Street Sense) took the stage and debuted as the 5-2 second choice here. The filly set up shop behind a wall of horses up the backstretch which included stablemate and favorite Usha (Tiz the Law). Under a hard hold, the 2-year-old began to look for running room entering the far turn and with a three-wide move at the quarter pool she was locked and loaded. As Usha...

According to trainer Bob Baffert, MGISW Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) has been scratched from the GI FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic Stakes, where she was slated to face the boys on Saturday at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form. When reached for comment, Baffert told the TDN, "Adare Manor is out of the Pacific Classic. She tied up a little after the gallop yesterday and was still a little tight this morning. I don't feel she's a hundred percent. She can't be...

Adare Manor (Uncle Mo), a winner of her last three races--two of them Grade Is--has been entered in the Pacific Classic, said her trainer Bob Baffert. The five-year-old mare has run four times this year, finishing second in the GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita March 9 before taking the GI Apple Blossom, GI Santa Margarita, and GI Clement L. Hirsch, has won 10 of 18 starts, three Grade Is, and over $2 million. She came from off the pace to win the Clement Hirsch, and Baffert said that the...

When 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) enters the gate for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga, it'll be more than a sporting gesture on the part of the ownership group and trainer Ken McPeek. The conditioner is rolling the dice against a field that includes three other Grade I winners--an oft-brilliant, but sometimes unpredictable reigning Eclipse Award champion, a Classic winner over the course and distance and a seven-figure yearling whose full potential has yet to be realized. Sure, Thorpedo Anna could have faced her peers in...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Mancuso (f, 2, McKinzie--Medaglia d'Argento, by Medaglia d'Oro) came within a neck of putting an exclamation point on a banner weekend for her high-profile connections at Del Mar last Sunday. Given a 7-1 chance in her unveiling for trainer Phil D'Amato, the Little Red Feather Racing colorbearer broke well from her inside draw and was ridden along by Antonio Fresu to chase in a joint second while...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - When one of Bob Baffert's horses is doing well, the Hall of Fame trainer expects a big effort. That's why 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) has made his second cross-country trip in the last two months. That's why he is right here, in Saratoga, getting ready to run in the $500,000 GI Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday. "It's a tough race, there are no easy spots," Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar in California. "Anytime you have a Grade I,...

After entering stable star Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in both Friday's Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town and Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., trainer Derek Ryan confirmed Wednesday that his New Jersey-bred gelding will go in the Saratoga race. Both races are restricted to three-year-olds, have purses of $500,000 and will be run at the distance of seven furlongs. "We're going to Saratoga," Ryan said from his base at Monmouth Park. "He got a good post (post 8). At Charles Town, he got a bad post (post 2) and...