After a four-year absence and a high-profile suspension, Bob Baffert is returning to the Kentucky Derby with two contenders and unfinished business at Churchill Downs. The trainer wants to add to his legacy of six Derby victories, the AP reports. The 72-year-old is back at his old Barn 33, preparing to enter two horses in the May 3 race: Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez and Citizen Bull, last year's 2-year-old champion. "I'm going to have fun now that everything is behind me," Baffert said this week.
Both horses could finish in the top five or top 10, Baffert figures. His last Derby was in 2021, when Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first and appeared to give him a record seventh Derby win. But Medina Spirit failed a drug test for betamethasone, a steroid legal as a therapeutic in Kentucky but not allowed on race day. He later said the horse had been treated with a topical ointment containing the steroid for a skin inflammation. "But at the end of the day, it still can't be in his system and that was the problem," Baffert said. The second horse in Derby history to be disqualified for a failed drug test, the colt after a workout later in the year.
Churchill Downs lifted Baffert's suspension last July, and he returned to win a race there in the fall. Some trainers have welcomed him back. "There's no question that Bob Baffert is very popular and draws a lot of people's attention. He deserves to be back," said Mark Casse. Michael McCarthy described Baffert as "a polarizing figure in our sport" who "puts people in the seats." Baffert said he's tired of talking about his suspensions. "It's a fun business if you let it be a fun business," he said, adding: "What happened, happened. I took responsibility for it, so that's it." (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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