Undefeated Corniche what is almost certainly a championship season with a front-running score in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) Friday at Del Mar.
For Bob Baffert, Corniche is the trainer’s fifth winner in the race, tying him for the most all time with fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas.
Despite the outside post in the field of 11, Corniche was sent to the lead right away by Mike Smith to guide the field through a quarter-mile in :23.03. Corniche’s closest pursuer down the backstretch was his stablemate Pinehurst, a length behind going into the final turn. Corniche looked to be going along comfortably as Giant Game and Pappacap took up the chase for the stretch run. Corniche responded by drawing off with powerful strides, defeating Pappacap by nearly two lengths in 1:42.50 for the 1 1/16-miles on a fast track.
“Well the Derby is a long ways off and so right now my focus was just getting here and we'll see how it plays out,” said Baffert. “And there's still a lot of things going on and so – and, really, there's not much to talk about that right now, just, like I said, the main thing is to keep him healthy, that's number one, we have a really good horse, and we have to keep him healthy and the Derby, that's a long ways off still, so a lot can happen between now and then and we'll see how it — we got to see how it plays out.”
Owned by Speedway Stable’s Peter Fluor and K. C. Weiner, Corniche has three wins in as many starts, and has earned $1,262,000. He previously won his maiden debut and the American Pharoah S. (G1).