Bodemeister early 4-1 favorite for Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Bob Baffert sure looks to be on a winning streak lately - and that applies not only to his horses but to his health as well.
The trainer certainly had good fortune in the Kentucky Derby draw where his Bodemeister was made the early 4-1 favorite after landing a good post position for Saturday's race.
It's the third time Baffert has had the morning-line favorite; the first two didn't work out.
Lookin At Lucky drew the dreaded inside post in 2010, giving Baffert a sinking feeling. Sure enough, the colt got trapped along the rail and finished sixth. In 2001, Point Given was the heavy favorite and wound up fifth. He went on to win the Preakness and Belmont stakes, the final two legs of the Triple Crown.
"At least we're in a position where we have a good chance of winning," Baffert said Wednesday. "If I got the one-hole I would be thinking they just don't want me to win this Derby. After Lookin At Lucky, when he got the one-hole, the excitement just left me because I knew he had too much to overcome."
"I just hope I have a chance to get my heart rate going turning for home," said the three-time Derby champion and consummate jokester, who found a way to reference the heart attack he suffered in March. He says he's a changed man now, exercising and eating all the right foods.
Baffert fell ill in Dubai, where he had gone to watch his horse, Game On Dude, run in the $10 million Dubai World Cup. He was rushed to a hospital, where surgeons inserted three stents in two arteries.
Speedster Bodemeister, named after Baffert's 7-year-old son Bode, drew the No. 6 post under jockey Mike Smith. Six horses have won from that position, the last being Sea Hero in 1993.
"If he gets away well, like I've been saying all along, if he's given the opportunity, he's going to run extremely well," said Smith, who won his only Derby on 50-1 stunner Giacomo in 2005.
But the 3-year-old colt will have to overcome some steep history. No horse since Apollo in 1882 has won the Derby without racing as a 2-year-old.
Bodemeister is the stronger of Baffert's two horses, having won the Arkansas Derby by 9 1-2 lengths in the most dominating performance of the Derby prep races. His other, 50-1 shot Liaison, landed in the No. 20 spot.
Union Rags was a close second choice at 9-2 in a full field of 20 horses.
Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia said if Bodemeister had drawn the No. 1 or 2 post, he would have made Union Rags the favorite.
"I wanted to make them co-favorites," he said. "I haven't been this close on two horses since Curlin and Street Sense (in 2007). I wanted to make them co-favorites and I didn't. They went off 10 cents apart."
Union Rags drew the No. 4 post and was listed second choice on the morning line. He is trained by Michael Matz, who won the Derby in 2006 with undefeated Barbaro, who broke down at the Preakness, valiantly fought his injuries but ultimately had to be euthanized eight months later.
"The horses that are around him, the horses in the 1 and 3 don't have that much speed," Matz said. "That should push us closer to where Bodemeister is and we know that horse has speed. It looks like it ends up all right. We just have to be running away from the gate."
Field for Saturday's 138th Kentucky Derby:
Horses listed by gate position
Horse Odds
1. Daddy Long Legs 30-1
2. Optimizer 50-1
3. Take Charge Indy 15-1
4. Union Rags 9-2
5. Dullahan 8-1
6. Bodemeister 4-1
7. Rousing Sermon 50-1
8. Creative Cause 12-1
9. Trinniberg 50-1
10. Daddy Nose Best 15-1
11. Alpha 15-1
12. Prospective 30-1
13. Went the Day Well 20-1
14. Hansen 10-1
15. Gemologist 6-1
16. El Padrino 20-1
17. Done Talking 50-1
18. Sabercat 30-1
19. I'll Have Another 12-1
20. Liaison 50-1