HOT SPRINGS —Double dipping from long distance, trainer Bob Baffert acquired much-needed loot for one 3-year-old and a solid line on another on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Recovering from a heart attack, Baffert watched from California as Bodemeister won the Arkansas Derby. Seventy-seven minutes earlier, the Baffert-trained Drill finished second in a $100,000 race.
Those results solidified his plan for both colts. Bodemeister is headed for the Kentucky Derby; Drill is bound for something less strenuous.
When the day began, Bodemeister needed the $600,000 first-place check in the $1 million Derby to be guaranteed a spot in the starting gate for the May 5 Kentucky Derby, and Baffert didn’t know quite what to make of Drill. Named after Baffert’s 7-year-old son Bode, Bodemeister made a shambles of the field, beating the Baffert-trained Secret Circle by 9 1/2 lengths.
Breaking from the outside in the field of 11, Bodemeister grabbed the lead, clicked off a solid half mile, and looked like a real racehorse down the stretch, knocking out the final one-eighth of a mile in 12 seconds.
Equibase chart caller Jeff Taylor’s short comment was “legit pace, much best.” The descriptive “much best” ended his more extensive comment. Taylor called the Arkansas Derby the most impressive Kentucky Derby prep he had seen all spring.
“I was looking around about a length or so in front of the other horse and I set him down just in case someone was going to be coming, but then I looked up at the big TV board and I was like, whoa … I was like seven in front,” said winning jockey Mike Smith.
The money that showed in the final couple of minutes made Bodemeister the 2-1 favorite Saturday and his performance was so impressive that he will be high on the list of those who are the business of analyzing the Kentucky Derby.
Hansen’s loss to Dullahan at Keeneland on Saturday raised questions about the 2-year-old champion and Union Rags, second in the Florida Derby two weeks ago, may be the lukewarm favorite at Churchill by default.
Bodemeister will be well considered, but any endorsement of him will come with an asterisk, noting that the son of Empire Maker will be bucking a 130-yard trend. The last Derby winner who did not race at 2 was Apollo. When he won, the Civil War had only been over for 17 years.
Bodemeister’s first start was Jan. 16. He won a maiden race in February and was second in a stakes race in March. Drill has the graded earnings to run in the Derby, but there was a question about his stamina. The four previous times that he raced around two turns, he was beaten a total of 46 lengths, but Baffert decided to give him one more chance.
On Saturday, Drill could not get past Master Rick, who won a maiden race a month ago. For Drill, the future is full of one-turn races. The owners of Drill also own Secret Circle so they will be represented in the Run for the Roses.
“We’ll see what this took out of them and then we’ll start talking Derby,” Baffert said by phone.
The Arkansas Derby is likely to yield a third Derby starter in Sabercat, who secured the graded money needed in a 2-year-old race, but was eighth a month ago. Sabercat made up some ground to finish third on Saturday.
Still, he was 10 lengths behind Bodemeister.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. Email: hking@arkansasnews.com.