Baffert's connection to Lone Star goes deep
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GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – It was 29 years ago this spring when Southern California-based trainer Bob Baffert traveled to Lone Star Park during its inaugural meet and saddled Anet to win the track’s Derby.
Fast forward to Monday, and Baffert will be looking for his fifth win in the race when he sends out Desert Gate in the $300,000 Texas Derby.
Baffert’s presence at Lone Star all those years ago helped put a national spotlight on the new track. He’s continued to participate in the stakes schedule in the ensuing years, and his 21 wins at Lone Star have all come in stakes. Baffert has had a total of 43 career starts at Lone Star.
He vividly remembers Lone Star’s opening weekend in April of 1997. The track is located in the highly populated, sports-loving market of Dallas and Fort Worth.
“They had just opened and it was a big deal,” Baffert recalled. “Sonny Hine brought Skip Away. That was a big deal.
“They really hustled. They had a great team and they just made it big. It was big-time. They wanted us to support it and I said, ‘Yeah, we’ll go in there.’ And it was fun. I loved going there.”
On another trip to town, Baffert found himself staying at the same hotel as the Seattle Mariners, the team of one of his all-time favorite baseball players, Ken Griffey Jr.
“A-Rod was on the team,” Baffert recalled. “That’s when he was called Alex Rodriguez – not A-Rod. I ran into him at the hotel. I had met him before because I threw out a pitch in Baltimore.
“I was talking to [Mariners manager] Lou Piniella – Lou owned horses – and we were talking in the lobby and he said, ‘Come out to the game.’ And Alex said, ‘I remember you, you’re the horse guy.’ I’m the horse guy, you know. And I said, ‘Where’s Ken Griffey Jr.?’ And he said, ‘He’s got a limo. He stays downtown.’ I said, ‘Oh, man. Someday, you’ll be taking the limo.’ We laughed it off, but I said, ‘Someday that will be you.’ And sure enough, it was.’ ”
Grade 3 winner Desert Gate will be Baffert’s first Lone Star starter in eight years. His long list of local stakes winners includes Congaree, Mor Spirit, and Bob and John. His wins in the Lone Star Derby – now called the Texas Derby – have come with Anet in 1997, Wanna Runner (2006), Mythical Power (2009), and Game On Dude (2010).
Baffert’s win with Anet came on the same card as the Texas Mile, in which his trainee Isitingood upset Skip Away. Mike Pegram, who co-owned Isitingood, is a co-owner of Desert Gate.
The Texas Mile is now called the Steve Sexton Mile and the Grade 3, $400,000 race will be run on the same card as the Texas Derby on Monday. The races, which make up Lone Star Million Day, were drawn earlier this week, and they will be part of a card of six stakes worth $1.1 million. It’s the richest card of the meet at Lone Star.
The Texas Derby field, from the rail with riders, is Maximum Effort, Erik Asmussen; Zilarro, Stewart Elliott; Avery Place, Alfredo Juarez Jr.; Vintage Cowboy, Ramon Vazquez; Desert Gate, Irad Ortiz Jr.; and Chad Allan, Jose Ortiz.
The Steve Sexton Mile field, from the rail, is: Heavenville, Touchuponastar, Neoequos, Will Take It, Komorebino Omoide, This Is Uscar, Publisher, Gigante, and Heroic Move.
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