Belmont Stakes: Baffert to have first runners in New York since March 2022
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ELMONT, N.Y. – The last time Bob Baffert was at Belmont Park was June 2018 when he watched Justify win the Belmont Stakes, capping an undefeated Triple Crown campaign.
The last time Bob Baffert was in New York was January 2022 when he sat in a conference room of a midtown Manhattan attorney’s office testifying on his own behalf in a case brought against him by the New York Racing Association seeking to ban the trainer for two years following a string of medication violations in other jurisdictions, including Medina Spirit’s overage for the regulated medication betamethasone in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
Baffert, who was banned for two years by Churchill Downs – which is still being contested – was ultimately barred by NYRA for the equivalent of one year. That ban ended in January. The three horses he intends to run here Saturday – National Treasure in the Belmont Stakes and Arabian Lion and Fort Bragg in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens – represent his first starters in New York since Rockefeller finished last in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 5, 2022.
“I’m looking forward to running in the Belmont and those other races,” Baffert said Sunday from California. “This is why we do it, we’re all in it to play on the big stage. . . . Belmont Day, that’s the big stage.”
Baffert said he’s had cordial conversations with NYRA officials about accommodations for his horses and staff and deflected when asked if he felt his suspension here was warranted considering he’s never been cited for a violation in New York.
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“That noise, I keep it out,” Baffert said. “That’s a different animal. I just focus on the horses. It’s fun to come back if you have a chance to win. I’ve gone there before and came up empty, and I had a feeling going in I’d come up empty.”
For the last 25 years, Baffert, based in Southern California, has brought most of his best horses to NYRA’s three tracks – Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. More often than not he did not leave empty-handed.
Starting with Forestry’s victory in the Grade 2 Dwyer at Belmont in 1999, Baffert has 65 graded stakes victories on this circuit, 42 have come in Grade 1s. Baffert’s most recent Grade 1 win in New York came with Gamine at Saratoga in the 2021 Ballerina. Baffert was not permitted to race at Saratoga in 2022 but is looking to return this summer.
“New York is very important, especially if you want to generate value for your horse,” Baffert said. “When you win in New York, it’s a big deal, it’s big time. When you’re trying to win one of those big races there it means a lot to the clients.”
Five times Baffert has come to the Belmont with a chance at winning the Triple Crown. Twenty-five years ago, Real Quiet came within a nose of achieving the feat, losing by a nose to Victory Gallop.
“One of the baddest beats ever,” said Baffert, who also missed out on the Triple Crown in 1997 with Silver Charm and in 2002 with War Emblem.
Eight years ago, however, American Pharoah broke Thoroughbred racing’s 37-year Triple Crown drought when he captured the Belmont, before a raucous crowd of approximately 90,000 at Belmont Park.
“That was the best sporting event I’ve ever been to,” Baffert said. “It was so loud, I’ll never forget the place was shaking, the building was trembling. Watching that horse come down the stretch, listening to the crowd it was deafening. I’ve been to some major sporting events, usually half the crowd was rooting. This one, everybody was rooting.”
They were rooting again in 2018 when Justify led the Belmont field from start to finish under Mike Smith.
There will not be a Triple Crown at stake for National Treasure when he runs in Saturday’s 155th Belmont Stakes.
National Treasure did not qualify for the Kentucky Derby but comes here off a game victory over Blazing Sevens in the Preakness, Baffert’s record eighth in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. Baffert has won the Belmont three times. A fourth victory would put him in a tie with contemporaries D. Wayne Lukas and Todd Pletcher as well as past legends Max Hirsch and R.W. Walden for fourth most wins in this classic.
While Baffert has been under scrutiny the last few years, his owners have stayed loyal, supplying him with the kinds of horses that will likely keep him playing on racing’s biggest stages, including New York.
“I’ve had some great moments, great wins, I’ve had some tremendous losses, but at the end of the day it’s fun to go there and compete,” Baffert said. “I love challenges. Like Frank Sinatra said, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”
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