Baffert will let Drefong dictate schedule ahead of Breeders' Cup Sprint

Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that he will wait to see how Drefong trains following his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego Stakes at Saratoga before deciding whether to train him up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or run him once more beforehand.

Last year, Drefong won the King’s Bishop on Aug. 27 at Saratoga and didn’t run until the BC Sprint, a race he won as part of a 4-for-4 campaign that culminated with an Eclipse Award as champion sprinter.

Drefong didn’t start again until the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar on July 29, a race in which he was bumped a few strides out of the gate, and jockey Mike Smith was unseated. Saturday’s front-running victory in the Forego was his sixth win from eight career starts.

If Baffert elected to run once more, the race would be the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7.

Baffert said you can go in fresh “with good horses. Actually, he did get a little bit out of it when he got loose, he still dug through there and pushed his way through there to run second. He was still trying to run.”

Drefong, a 4-year-old son of Gio Ponti, ran seven furlongs in 1:21.12 and earned a career-best 107 Beyer Speed Figure in the Forego.

Mind Your Biscuits, the second choice in the Forego, finished sixth. Trainer Chad Summers said he could not find anything amiss with the New York-bred and will wait to decide where to run him again, if at all, before the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.