Kentucky Derby: Seemar emerging on his own as trainer of Summer Is Tomorrow
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Much has been made of Tim Yakteen, a former assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, saddling his first Kentucky Derby horses this year in Taiba and Messier, both of whom were transferred to Yakteen due to a Baffert suspension.
But flying far under the radar is another former Baffert employee, Bhupat Seemar, who will also saddle his first Derby starter in Summer Is Tomorrow, the runner-up in the Group 2 UAE Derby.
The Indian-born Seemar will also be sending out his first U.S. starter but is no stranger to the local industry workings. He spent 18 months as an intern at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., a perennial leading commercial consignor that also boards and foals mares, handles lay-ups, stands stallions, and everything in between. Seemar then moved on to work for Baffert for five years, during a period in the early 2000s when the barn had champions and dual classic winners Point Given and War Emblem, as well as champion Vindication.
Seemar, 45, arrived in Louisville last week, for the first time since War Emblem won the 2002 Derby.
“It has been a long time, but that wasn’t my first Derby,” Seemar said. “I was here as a spectator for Charismatic” in 1999.
Seemar has been an assistant to his uncle, six-time UAE leading trainer Satish Seemar, at his Zabeel Stables for nearly two decades. In November, he became the head trainer at the operation after Satish Seemar was temporarily suspended by the Emirates Racing Authority after being placed on a U.S. sanctions list due to training a horse for Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic. In a statement, Satish Seemar said that the horse in question, North America, is no longer in training at Zabeel and he expects the matter of his license to be resolved.
In the meantime, Bhupat Seemar rapidly took up the family mantle, enjoying a stellar winter training season in Dubai, culminating on Dubai World Cup night. Shortly after Summer Is Tomorrow’s runner-up effort, he saddled Switzerland to win the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen.
Summer Is Tomorrow was expected to turn in his final pre-Derby breeze on Monday morning at Churchill Downs.