Bob Baffert Derby dreaming again with dark horse Mor Spirit
Katie Lamb will be providing preview content for the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes for theScore this season. Katie's horse-racing coverage has appeared in The New York Times and the Toronto Star.
Triple Crown-winning thoroughbred trainer Bob Baffert arrived in Louisville for what he says is the last leg of the "Pharoah tour" and the beginning of a new adventure with his sole Kentucky Derby horse, Mor Spirit.
Related: Kentucky Derby Post Positions to be held Wednesday, May 4 at 5:30 pm ET.
This time last year, Baffert was sitting in an enviable position: He had two of the favorites for the Derby in his barn, Dortmund and American Pharoah. And, as everyone knows, American Pharoah didn't just give Baffert his fourth Kentucky Derby win on that first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs - the colt became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
Back at the scene of the first leg of his historic run with Pharoah, Baffert said the din around his barn is decidedly different now that he's coming into the race with a long shot in Mor Spirit.
"It's quieter," he said in a press scrum at Churchill Downs on Tuesday. "It should be. It's a different vibe, but it's still exciting. Thrilled to be here."
Baffert was on hand for Mor Spirit's penultimate workout in preparation for the Derby on May 7, watching his colt breeze five furlongs in 59.80 seconds.
Mor Spirit, a 3-year-old colt by Eskendereya, comes into the Derby having never finished worse than second in all of his seven starts, with wins in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity and the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, both in his home state of California. To date, he's won more than $600,000 in earnings, but his last performance in the Santa Anita Derby, where he finished second to fellow Derby contender Exaggerator in the slop at Santa Anita, means Mor Spirit will need to make a leap forward to take the "Run for the Roses" next Saturday.
"You need to move up. From his last race - his last race wasn't real strong, but it was muddy and he got a lot of mud," said Baffert of the horse, who's named for his Danish owner Michael Lund Petersen's mother, with "mor" being the Danish word for mother.
"But the way the field looks, there's a lot of nice 3-year-olds, it's a very competitive bunch of horses. I think the post is going to matter, I think the break (will matter, too), there's going to be a lot of luck involved."
For all his success in the big race, nobody knows more about the importance good fortune plays in the Derby than Baffert. He received his first reality check from lady luck when Cavonnier lost the 1996 Derby on the wire by a mere whisker, and in 2010 Baffert had the favorite with Lookin At Lucky, but watched his chances go up in smoke when his horse was bumped into the rail just seconds after the start.
Mor Spirit's regular jockey, Gary Stevens, will be in the irons in the Kentucky Derby. Combined, Baffert, 63, and Stevens, who turned 53 this year, have won a remarkable 21 Triple Crown races, and together won the Derby and the Preakness Stakes in 1997 with Silver Charm.
"It's fun with Gary," said Baffert. "We've been here, and we're getting older now and I think we appreciate it more or enjoy it more. Before we used to come in here just all - trying to win one of these things. Once you've been there so many times, you know what you need to do: stay focused, enjoy yourself, and as long as everything is going smooth, so that's the whole key.”
Baffert may not have another Triple Crown winner in his arsenal this year with Mor Spirit, but that certainly won't stop the Hall of Fame trainer from dreaming with his dark horse.
"The Kentucky Derby is so important to me, so important to us. It was nice to finally get here, you see the twin spires and (it) starts getting you jazzed up."