Bob Baffert has a high mathematical chance at tying the record for Kentucky Derby wins with his three favored horses Game Winner, Roadster and Improbable.
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Kentucky Derby trainer
walks back to the barn after morning workouts in preparation for the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Bob Baffert is the most recognizable face in horse racing. He’s not only his iconic white hair, as he has trained two Triple Crown winners since 2015 (American Pharoah then and Justify last year).
He already had good odds to win his 6th Kentucky Derby with three contenders (Game Winner, Roadster and Improbable) in this year’s field. Those chances skyrocketed with the late scratch of front-line favorite Omaha Beach due to an entrapped epiglottis.
As Donica Phifer of Newsweek points out, a win today would tie Baffert tied with Ben Jones for the most all-time trainer Derby wins. “Jones won six times from 1938 to 1952 and also earned two Triple Crowns in his career,” she writes.
“I don’t even think about it. It was a different era. Nowadays the Derby is bigger than it was then. Now it’s pretty intense,” Baffert told the Los Angeles Times. “Back then, horses ran 40 times a year. [The Derby] was just a race between other races. It’s like comparisons of football players and baseball players from different times until now.
