Drefong made a triumphant return to Saratoga on Saturday, dominating the $600,000 Forego S. (G1) in a performance much like his victory in the King's Bishop S. (G1) over the same course and distance almost exactly one year ago.

Owned by the Baoma Corp., Drefong was last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner and the Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter, but 2017 got off to a bad start when he dumped rider Mike Smith soon after the start of the Bing Crosby S. (G1) a month ago. 

The son of Gio Ponti made up for that mishap in a big way on Saturday, outgunning a top-class field as he rolled through the first half-mile in :45.58, then really leveled off in the stretch, winning by four lengths to stop the timer in 1:21.12, less than a second off the track record.

“We just saw the real Drefong,” Bob Baffert said by phone from Del Mar. “You would have seen him last time if Mike Smith hadn't fallen off [Baffert said tongue-in-cheek]. It's a good thing that everything turned out alright because otherwise, I would have never brought him to the Forego. I was going to run him once there [Del Mar and then return in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, also at Del Mar], or maybe twice [in California]. I'd rather win the Forego than that other race. He's a great horse and he's always been a champion. We knew he was our best chance [of his three Travers Day runners] going in there. When he hit that third gear there, I was really happy, and happy to hear the cheers.” 

Drefong's record stands at six wins from eight starts, with earnings of $1,523,385. 

Baffert's lone previous Forego winner, Midnight Lute in 2007, was a two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Sprint and also an Eclipse Champion in 2008.