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Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

Baffert appearance usually means race worth savoring

By GARY WEST

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

GRAND PRAIRIE -- He generally regards a trip to Texas as a semi-vacation, a couple days of Texas burgers and two-stepping, with a roller coaster and a stakes victory usually somewhere in the mix.

But I generally regard his visit as something else altogether, as an auspicious sign and a reliable indicator that a moment worth savoring is in the offing.

When Bob Baffert shows up at Lone Star, a good horse race can't be far behind. And the white-headed, silver-tongued, California-based trainer will be here Saturday, with Samba Rooster, for the $400,000 Lone Star Derby.

Yes, his presence has been a sure-fire sign. Baffert, of course, won the inaugural Lone Star Derby with Anet, and he has been making annual trips, with only a few exceptions, to Grand Prairie ever since. In Lone Star Stakes over the years, he has sent out 28 horses, and they've delivered 13 victories.

He has brought Congaree, Isitingood, Preachinatthebar and Kentucky Derby winner Real Quiet. In 2006, with Wanna Runner, Baffert won his second Lone Star Derby. Last year, he brought Bob And John to finish second in the Texas Mile and, later, to win the Lone Star Park Handicap.

And Baffert returns Saturday with Samba Rooster for what's probably the best Lone Star Derby in many years.

Also among those entered are El Gato Malo, the San Rafael winner who finished fifth as the 9-5 favorite in the Santa Anita Derby; Texas Wildcatter, the runner-up in the Gotham at Aqueduct; Leonides, the winner of the Palo Verde Stakes; and My Pal Charlie, the runner-up in the Louisiana Derby.

"He's extremely fast," Baffert said about Samba Rooster, who ran second in the recent Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. "He's one-dimensional. He's a front-runner, and you just have to hope he holds on."

In each of his six races, Samba Rooster seized the early lead, and although he has won but once, he has finished close to some major stakes winners, such as Behindatthebar and Harlem Rocker, who are both aimed at next weekend's Preakness. The Rooster sometimes gets distracted when he's out there all by himself on the lead, and so Baffert said he'll put blinkers on the colt for Saturday's race.

And in his four one-mile races at Gulfstream Park in Florida, Samba Rooster faced a long run to the turn as soon as the latches of the starting gate opened, and that straightaway encouraged the colt to draw on his speed immediately. But Saturday's two turns, Baffert said, should force the Rooster to moderate his speed, if only for a moment.

Most of all, though, it'll just be left to Garrett Gomez, the Eclipse Award winning jockey of 2007, to slow the big horse down and persuade him to distribute his speed and energy over the 1 1/16 miles.

Either way though, Samba Rooster will be the one to catch in the Lone Star Derby, and the white-headed sign points to an outstanding race.

Big Brown-Preakness

Playing oddsmaker during a teleconference Thursday, Richard Dutrow put the odds of Big Brown's sweeping the Triple Crown at even-money, or 50-50. Dutrow, of course, trains the Kentucky Derby winner.

He said Big Brown's romp at Churchill Downs didn't leave the colt any worse for the experience. Having returned to the track for training Wednesday, Big Brown, Dutrow said, is eating and happy and ready for the Preakness in eight days at Pimlico in Baltimore.

"Looking at the Preakness," he said, "I'm pretty confident. He's not hooking the best horses."

Dutrow said the only horse he has "any respect for" in the Preakness is the "white horse," Harlem Rocker. Dutrow said he expects Big Brown to have his most serious challenge in the Belmont Stakes on June 7 in New York, where he could take on "fresher and better horses."