Bayern, California Chrome head home to prep for Breeders' Cup Classic

Bayern and three of the horses he defeated in Saturday’s $1 million Pennsylvania Derby – including Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome – returned Sunday to Southern California and will most likely be pointed to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.

“I want to run him in the Classic,” Baffert said Sunday by phone from Southern California. “He has to show me leading up to it he’s holding his form.”

Bayern has won three of his last four starts, including the Grade 2 Woody Stephens going seven furlongs at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Haskell going 1 1/8 miles at Monmouth, as well as the Pennsylvania Derby, a race in which he set a Parx track record by running 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.96. Bayern, who won by 5 3/4 lengths, earned a career-best 111 Beyer Speed Figure.

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Bayern’s only loss in his last four starts came in the $1 million Travers at 1 1/4 miles, the distance of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Baffert and Martin Garcia, Bayern’s regular jockey, both claim that Bayern didn’t handle Saratoga’s main track in the Travers.

“He could’ve run a mile and a quarter yesterday,” Baffert said. “He’s got to run like he did yesterday. Nobody could’ve beaten him yesterday.”

Baffert said he ran Bayern in the Travers because of how well he trained over Del Mar’s synthetic surface after the Haskell. He ran in the Pennsylvania Derby based on how well he trained over Santa Anita’s surface.

“It’s hard to gauge a horse based on how they train over that synthetic track at Del Mar, but we have a really good track here at Santa Anita,” Baffert said.

By virtue of his victory in the Haskell, Bayern has a fees-paid berth into the Classic.

Tapiture, the runner-up in the Pennsylvania Derby, shipped to Southern California on Sunday along with his stablemate, the Cotillion winner Untapable. Both will be based at Santa Anita. Tapiture could be a candidate for either the Classic or Dirt Mile.

Meanwhile, trainer Art Sherman said California Chrome, who finished sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby, “seemed to pull up good” out of the race.

Sherman said he was disappointed with the trip his horse had in the race, noting that he should have been right on the pace through the early fractions of 24.07 and 47.89. Breaking from the rail under Victor Espinoza, California Chrome was bottled in along the rail for a good part of the trip.

“If he could’ve gotten out and let him go, my horse has speed too,” Sherman said. “You don’t let a horse gallop along in 24 and change and 47 and change. If he could have gotten free and run with that horse, and if he outruns you, he outruns you down the lane.”

Sherman expects California Chrome to move forward out of the race, his first start in 105 days.

“I would have to think so,” Sherman said. “He definitely needed the race.”

Sherman said California Chrome would do the bulk of his training at Los Alamitos before shipping to Santa Anita the week before the Classic.

Also returning to Southern California was Candy Boy, the third-place finisher in the Pennsylvania Derby.