Maximum Security has third work for Baffert

Maximum Security, the champion 3-year-old male of 2019, had his third work of the spring at Santa Anita on Saturday, exercising five furlongs in 1:00.80.

Trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday that the intensity and distances of the workouts will increase in coming weeks as Maximum Security nears his first start since a win in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 29.

“I think the next work I’ll get a little serious with him,” Baffert said. “He’s doing really well. He looks healthy.

“He’s coming right along. The good ones are really easy to train.”

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Maximum Security was previously trained by Jason Servis and joined Baffert’s stable earlier this spring.

In early March, owner Gary West moved Maximum Security from Servis to Baffert after Servis was part of a group of trainers arrested and indicted on charges of administering illegal substances to horses. Servis has entered a not guilty plea to the charges.

Saudi Arabian racing officials announced in mid-April that the purse of the Saudi Cup was being withheld, pending their own investigation into the charges.

Maximum Security is best known for finishing first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby only to be disqualified and placed 17th for causing interference on the turn.