Baffert's plan is to run Arrogate fresh in Breeders' Cup Classic
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, outside his barn at Saratoga, trainer Bob Baffert walked Arrogate over to a smattering of assembled media to let the press “get up close and personal with the fastest horse to ever step foot on this track,” he said.
Arrogate, not yet a ham like some other horses, stared at the press corps, as if to wonder what the fuss was about.
“I don’t think he realizes what he did yesterday,” Baffert said.
Arrogate appeared fine the morning after his front-running, record-setting performance in Saturday’s 147th Travers, winning the Grade 1, $1.25 million race by 13 1/2 lengths over stablemate American Freedom in a track-record time of 1:59.36 for 1 1/4 miles. The previous record of 2:00 was held by General Assembly, who, it turned out, was stabled in the same barn as Arrogate.
As ready to run as Baffert thought he had the lightly raced son of Unbridled’s Song, even the Hall of Fame trainer was taken aback by what Arrogate did.
“After he ran like that I was like a fan. I was like ‘Wow, what did we just witness?’ ” Baffert said. “This is a terrific horse. I saw the time … that’s smoking, but I didn’t know that was a track record.”
Arrogate’s win came a year after Baffert’s Triple Crown winner American Pharoah had to settle for second in the Travers. Baffert said he wasn’t looking for redemption, he was “just looking to win a horse race.”
Arrogate earned a 122 Beyer Speed Figure for his Travers victory. That’s two points higher than the best number American Pharoah earned in his career. American Pharoah received a 120 for his victory in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“Pharoah, when he left, I said I’ll never have anything close to him at all and this horse does that,” Baffert said. “I’m not going to crown him yet, but at least he’s got us excited and something to think about. There’ll never be another Pharoah.”
But there will be another Breeders’ Cup Classic; this year it will be Nov. 5 at Santa Anita. Baffert said it is his first instinct to just train Arrogate up to the Classic, similar to what he did last year with American Pharoah.
“I could change my plans, but right now I would say I would run him fresh into the Breeders’ Cup after a race like that,” Baffert said.
In the Breeders’ Cup, Arrogate would meet horses such as California Chrome and, potentially, Frosted.
“I knew this horse was a really, really good horse, but we never had set him down,” Baffert said. “He can run with those kinds of horses.”
Arrogate was scheduled to ship back to Southern California on Monday along with American Freedom, King’s Bishop winner Drefong and Jazzy Times, who was scratched from the King’s Bishop due to a bruised foot.
Baffert said he had not yet figured out what would be next for American Freedom.
Drefong, who won the King’s Bishop by 3 1/4 lengths and equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure (103), will be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Baffert said he could run him once more before then.
Depending how quickly Jazzy Times recovers from his foot issue, he could run in the Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx Racing on Sept. 24. Baffert plans to run West Virginia Derby winner Cupid in the Pennsylvania Derby.
Among those from the Travers who are pointing to the Pennsylvania Derby are Gun Runner, who finished third in the Travers, and Exaggerator, who finished 11th as the 5-2 favorite.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said he was satisfied with Gun Runner’s performance in the Travers.
“Gun Runner handled well and ran a good race in a spot where Arrogate freaked,” Asmussen said.
Exaggerator, meanwhile, did not run well in the Travers, finishing 11th, the same position he ended up in the Belmont Stakes. His connections believe the horse just doesn’t excel over the deeper, sandy tracks on this circuit.
However, Exaggerator did scope with mucous, according to Julie Clark, assistant to trainer Keith Desormeaux.
“There are some horses in the barn fighting pretty substantial colds and we were aware of that and did our best to segregate him from the others,” Clark said. “He also coughed a lot afterwards; he was plastered in dirt and obviously inhaled quite a bit of it.”
Clark said that in a week to 10 days Exaggerator would go to Kentucky with the rest of Desormeaux’s Saratoga string, but he would run in the Pennsylvania Derby.
“Parx is still the goal,” said Clark, who said it would be difficult for Exaggerator to simply train up to the Breeders’ Cup.
Creator won’t race again this year
Belmont Stakes winner Creator, who finished seventh in Saturday's Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, will not race again this year, according to Elliott Walden, president and CEO of WinStar Farm, which owns the 3-year-old colt along with Bobby Flay.
"There's nothing wrong with him," Walden said.
Walden said Creator will be sent home to WinStar Farm for a break with designs on a 4-year-old campaign that could include the Dubai World Cup.
"He didn't run as well as he can," Walden said, referring to the Travers. "He's a big, lightly framed horse. We'll let him fill out and be a 4-year-old. We always thought he'd be better as time went on anyway."
Creator, trained by Steve Asmussen, didn't run well in either of his two starts at Saratoga, finishing last in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 30 and getting beat 21 3/4 lengths by Arrogate in the Travers.
"There's a lot of kickback, sometimes they don't want to run into that coarse sand," Walden said. "His blinkers came back brown."
Creator, who has started 12 times, has been racing virtually nonstop since last September.
He won three races from eight starts this year including the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and the Belmont. He finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby.