Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Bad beginning to Baffert's day

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- A traffic jam got Bob Baffert's day off to a bad start.

Then, things got even worse Thursday for the high-profile trainer of War Emblem, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner.

"I left my downtown hotel at 6:30 a.m., and it took me an hour and a half to get here," Baffert said of the 25-mile trip from Chicago to Arlington Park.

"Then I was coming back from the track with War Emblem and they locked the gate on us," he said. "We had to go down and around on the pavement. I wanted to get my car and drive through the fence."

Baffert has seven horses entered in Saturday's eight-race World Thoroughbred Championships.

JOCKEYING FOR POSITION: Pat Day and Jerry Bailey, who share the Breeders' Cup record with 12 victories each, will be busy again during the championships.

Day will ride in six of eight races and Bailey will be aboard seven mounts.

Day, the only jockey to have ridden in all 18 Breeders' Cups, won the Distaff last year aboard Unbridled Elaine. His BC mounts have earned $21.7-million.

Bailey is third in Breeders' Cup earnings with $13.7-million and is riding Medaglia d'Oro, one of the favorites in the $4-million Classic. He has ridden at least one Breeders' Cup winner the past four years.

Mike Smith has a claim of his own. He's the only rider to have won six different Cup races, though he hasn't been in the Winner's Circle since 1997. And of 10 jockeys who have won five or more Breeders' Cup races, Smith has the best winning percentage (8-for-42 or 19 percent).

WAR EMBLEM'S FUTURE: War Emblem will be leaving Baffert's barn for good.

After the colt runs in the Classic, in which he's the lukewarm 3-1 early favorite, War Emblem will head to quarantine in preparation for a stud career in Japan.

War Emblem was sold last month for $17-million. He will stand at the same farm as Sunday Silence, the 1989 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner who died in August.

The Shadai Stallion Station farm, located on the island of Hokkaido, lost two other stallions recently and was looking for a replacement.

Baffert said War Emblem is nominated to a race in Japan in late November, making it possible he could run once more before heading to the farm.

"There's a lot of buzz. A lot of people want to watch him. It's his last race in the States," Baffert said.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright