Thousand Words gives Baffert his 3,000th North American win in Robert Lewis Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – He trained for Robert Lewis, for whom the race is named, and got his 3,000th victory in North American Thoroughbred racing on Saturday with a horse named Thousand Words, in a race that’s a prep for the Kentucky Derby, which he’s won five times.

For trainer Bob Baffert, the connections were obvious and meaningful after Thousand Words remained undefeated with a victory in the Grade 3, $100,500 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds.

“Thousand Words. Three-thousand. Just had a feeling it’d be this horse,” Baffert said in the winner’s circle. “It’s so hard to get there. The first 50 were the toughest to win. A hundred of them were life-changers.”

Many of those early wins with Thoroughbreds occurred with horses owned by Lewis and his wife, Beverly, most notably Silver Charm, Baffert’s first Derby winner back in 1997, a decade after Baffert started making the transition from Quarter Horses. So his actual number of race winners far exceeds 3,000; in fact, just counting Thoroughbred wins outside North America, he’s won the Dubai World Cup three times, the first with Silver Charm in 1998.

More significant may be what’s in store for Thousand Words. This was his third victory without a defeat and puts him among the top contenders for the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs. He now has 20 points, 10 earned in the Lewis and 10 earned in the Los Alamitos Futurity, which followed a maiden win at Santa Anita.

Thousand Words ($3.20) got a ground-saving trip in the Lewis under Flavien Prat as his Baffert-trained stablemate High Velocity led the way for much of the 1 1/16 miles. Thousand Words was able to split horses in upper stretch and grind out a victory by fending off Royal Act to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

Royal Act, who was three paths wide the whole way, was second by a neck over High Velocity, who was three-quarters of a length in front of Tizamagician. Encoder and Zimba Warrior were far back in the field of six.

Thousand Words was timed in 1:43.64 on the fast main track.

“Prat knows him really well,” Baffert said. “He sort of grinds. You’ve got to work at it. He’ll progress from this race.

“What he did today was pretty impressive. Inside, taking dirt,” Baffert said. “He’s tough to ride. You need a strong rider like Flavien.”

Baffert has several other 3-year-olds in the mix for the Derby, including Sham winner Authentic, who is awaiting next month’s San Felipe. Baffert said Thousand Words is “right there, in the top tier,” among his prospects.

Thousand Words, a colt by Pioneerof the Nile, was a $1 million yearling buy. He is owned by the Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm.