About Bob Baffert
Bob Baffert is widely recognized as one of the most successful trainers in the history of horse racing.
After rising to the top in the Quarter Horse game, Bob decided to become a full time Thoroughbred trainer. And it certainly did not take him long to also reach the pinnacle of his profession in Thoroughbred racing.
Through the years, Bob Baffert has registered numerous major stakes victories, earned a multitude of awards and received accolades galore, all stemming from his drive to succeed and his knack of being able to elicit the very best that an equine athlete has to give.
Probably nothing speaks louder about Bob Baffert the trainer and Bob Baffert the person than the fact that Mike Pegram and Hal Earnhardt have been in racing with him for such a long time. Those two owners have had a long run with Bob, with their association going all the way back to Bob’s Quarter Horse days. Indeed, Mike Pegram and Hal Earnardt were responsible for bringing Bob into the Thoroughbred game.
"Bob Baffert has an uncannily sharp eye for horseflesh. Nobody has more manifest gifts as a horse
whisper than Baffert"Multiple
Eclipse Award-winning writer William Nack from GQ magazine |
The 2007 Breeders’ Cup was especially meaningful for Bob Baffert in that he was able to win a Breeders’ Cup race for Hal Earnhardt and another Breeders’ Cup race for Mike Pegram.
For Hal Earnhardt and his wife, Patti, the Bob Baffert-trained Indian Blessing posted a 3 1/2-length victory in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
For Mike Pegram and partners Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, the Bob Baffert-trained Midnight Lute won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Sprint by an emphatic 4 3/4 lengths. Midnight Lute also had the distinction of recording the nation’s highest Beyer Speed Figure of 2007 when he earned a 124 for his victory in the Grade I Forego Stakes.
Bob Baffert’s zest for life and his pure joy of competing and winning at the sport’s highest level have helped make racing a lot fun for Mike Pegram, Hal Earnhardt and such other owners as Robert and Janice McNair (Stonerside Stable), the late Bob Lewis and his wife, Beverly; the late Prince Ahmed bin Salman (The Thoroughbred Corp.) and the late John Mabee and his wife, Betty (Golden Eagle Farm).
Silver Charm earned $6,944,369 before being retired to stud
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Bob and Beverly Lewis and Bob Baffert struck gold with Silver Charm. An $85,000 purchase, Silver Charm earned $6,944,369 before being retired to stud. Silver Charm’s racing career was highlighted by victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 1997 and the rich Dubai World Cup in 1998.
After coming within three-quarters of a length of sweeping the coveted Triple Crown with Silver Charm in 1997 for the Lewises, Bob Baffert came even closer to Triple Crown glory the following year with Mike Pegram’s Real Quiet. Real Quiet won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness before losing the Belmont Stakes by a scant nose.
Bob Baffert thus became the first person in the history of Thoroughbred racing to train Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners in back-to-back years
Real Quiet was purchased for an even smaller sum than Silver Charm. Real Quiet was bought at auction for just $17,000 and earned $3,271,802 on the track.
Bob Baffert has “an uncannily sharp eye for horseflesh,” multiple Eclipse Award-winning writer William Nack pointed out in a story about Baffert in GQ magazine. Nobody has “more manifest gifts as a horse whisper” than Baffert, Nack added.
For Bob Baffert to nearly win two Triple Crowns as the trainer of Silver Charm and Real Quiet, who were purchased for $102,000 combined, is regarded by Nack as “one of the most startling training feats of the last half century.”
Nack has written that Bob Baffert is “the most charming, engaging, articulate horseman” he has ever known. Nack covered horse racing for Sports Illustrated for many years and is the author of books on Thoroughbred legends Secretariat and Ruffian.
Captain Steve became another success story for the owner-trainer team of Baffert and Pegram. A $70,000 purchase, Captain Steve won the Dubai World Cup in 2001 and earned $6,828,356 during his racing career.
In 2001, Bob Baffert again won two-thirds of the Triple Crown, this time with Point Given.
Point Given won the Preakness and Belmont in 2001. That year he became the first Thoroughbred in history to win four straight races worth $1 million or more (the Preakness, Belmont, Haskell Invitational Handicap and Travers). Point Given also was victorious in the San Felipe Stakes and Santa Anita Derby as a 3-year-old.
War Emblem likewise won two-thirds of the Triple Crown for Bob Baffert in 2003. The colt joined the Baffert barn after winning the 2003 Illinois Derby. War Emblem then won the Kentucky Derby (as a 20-1 longshot), Preakness and Haskell Invitational Handicap.
Bob Baffert has been voted the Eclipse Award as the sport’s outstanding trainer three times (1997, 1998 and 1999).
These are the Eclipse Award-winning Thoroughbreds who have been trained by Bob Baffert:
- Silver Charm (3-year-old male of 1997)
- Real Quiet (3-year-old male of 1998)
- Silverbulletday (2-year-old filly of 1998; 3-year-old filly of 1999)
- Chilukki (2-year-old filly of 1999)
- Point Given (Horse of the Year of 2001; 3-year-old male of 2001)
- Vindication (2-year-old male of 2002)
- War Emblem (3-year-old male of 2002)
- Indian Blessing (2-year-old filly of 2007)
- Midnight Lute (sprinter of 2007)
Silver Charm was inducted into Thoroughbred racing’s national Hall of Fame in 2007. Silverbulletday has appeared as a finalist on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
At the start of 2008, Thoroughbreds trained by Bob Baffert had earned in excess of $127 million to rank fifth among the all-time leaders in that important category.
Bob Baffert also has trained four Quarter Horses champions, including Gold Coast Express, who was acclaimed 1986 Quarter Horse World Champion. Gold Coast Express won the prestigious Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos that year. Bob also saddled Shawnee’s Favorite to take the Champion of Champions in 1988.
In addition to his numerous accomplishments as a trainer, Bob Baffert has done much to help racing. Writers and publicists alike have saluted him for that.
In 1997, Bob Baffert received the Mr. Fitz Award from the National Turf Writers Association. This award is presented annually to an individual or group for typifying the spirit of racing. It is named in honor of one of racing’s greatest trainers, James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons.
In 1998, Bob Baffert received the Big Sport of Turfdom Award from the Turf Publicists of America. This annual award goes to a person or group who enhances coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with the media and racing publicists. The Turf Publicists of America, in existence since 1951, consists of approximately 180 Thoroughbred racing publicists and marketing executives at various racetracks throughout North America.
Born in Nogales, Ariz., on Jan. 13, 1953, Bob Baffert:
- Grew up on his family’s 240-acre cattle ranch near the Mexico border. His parents, Bill (a cattle rancher and Quarter Horse breeder) and Ellie (an elementary-school teacher and principal), raised seven children.
- Got his start with horses at age 10 when grooming and galloping Quarter Horses owned by his father, and gave his father the first Eclipse Award trophy that he received.
- Had a brief career as a jockey. In 1970, he rode first winner in a sanctioned race at Flagstaff in Arizona.
- Recorded his first win as a trainer with Baffert’s Baron at Flagstaff in 1971.
- Graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in animal sciences and racetrack management.
- Won his first race as a Thoroughbred trainer on Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to take the second race at Rillito in Arizona. The winner’s share of the $600 purse was $330.
- Made his first Thoroughbred auction purchase, Thirty Slews, in 1988. Thirty Slews was so named because the son of Slewpy was bought for $30,000 at Keeneland as a yearling. Thirty Slews won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 1992.
- Has topped the standings at Santa Anita’s winter-spring meet a record eight times. He also has won numerous training titles at Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Oak Tree.
- Won three stakes races on the 1991 California Cup card at Oak Tree as Charmonnier took the Cal Cup Classic, Ebonair the Cal Cup Juvenile and Letthebighossroll the Cal Cup Sprint.
- Nearly won the Kentucky Derby in his first try in 1996 with Cavonnier, who lost by a nose.
- Won the most important race in the Pacific Northwest, the Longacres Mile, with Isitingood in 1996 at Emerald Downs.
- Trained Isitingood to break the great Dr. Fager’s 29-year-old world record with a time of 1:32.09 for one mile in the 1997 The Bart Stakes on Santa Anita’s turf course.
- Purchased Keeneland summer yearling sale topper Forestry for $1.5 million in 1997, marking the first time he spent over $1 million to buy a horse. In 1999, Forestry won the Grade I King’s Bishop Stakes, Grade II Dwyer Stakes and San Pedro Stakes.
- Won the Santa Anita Derby and Pacific Classic in 1999 with General Challenge, who also took the Santa Anita Handicap in 2000.
- Has won the Cigar Mile in New York three times (El Corredor in 2000 and Congaree in 2002 and 2003).
- Was inducted into Lone Star Park’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
- Currently resides in Arcadia, Calif., along with his wife, Jill, a former news anchor at WLKY-32 in Louisville. Bob is the father of five children: Taylor, Canyon, Forest, Savannah and Bode.