LOUISVILLE – Trainer Bob Baffert was bewildered after his heavily favored Point Given finished fifth in the Derby. But he did get some satisfaction from the fact his other colt, Congaree, ran a good race for third.
“I was hoping to run 1-2,” he said. “It’s tough and disappointing. I just hope nothing shows up with Point Given. He wasn’t himself, but nothing is wrong at first glance. I just know that wasn’t the Point Given we know.
“He looked like he was in a good spot the whole way, but when you analyze the race closer, the pace was harder than expected. Maybe he needed to be farther back. Gary rode him like he did in the Santa Anita Derby – aggressive.
“Maybe it was the heat. I don’t know. He just didn’t fire his best shot. We didn’t see the real Point Given. The horse I know didn’t show up.
“Congaree perhaps ran the best race of them all. He was close to the hot pace and still ran on. Consider how few starts he’s had and it makes it all the more impressive. That sets him up nice for the Preakness.”
On Derby eve, Baffert talked up Congaree’s chances.
“I told [jockey] Victor Espinoza that if he can keep Congaree covered up behind horses early, get him to relax, then get him in the clear for the run home, he’s going to feel something he’s never felt before.”
Yesterday morning, the Derby almost lost its favorite when Point Given tried to dump his rider, a prank he’s pulled before. The “Big Red Train” was coming off the track about 6:45 after his morning gallop when he reared up, pawed his front hoofs in the air and almost keeled over backward.
Exercise rider Pepe Aragon threw his arms around Point Given’s neck and hung on for dear life, then quickly jumped off when the colt came back to earth and Baffert grabbed his bridle.
“I told him not to take that horse out,” Aragon scolded.
“He had a hectic two weeks here, and he had some commotion [yesterday] morning,” jockey Gary Stevens said after the Derby. “Maybe it took something out of him.”
Following that scare, Baffert and Stevens got the day off to a fine start, winning the first race at Churchill by daylight with Pegram’s 3-year-old filly Love At Noon (sired by Afternoon Deelites).
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CNBC and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced an “agreement in principle” for the cable network to televise a series of races, the “NTRA Two-Year-Old Challenge,” with a potential bonus of $1.3 million.
The races are the Sept. 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, Sept. 16 Futurity at Belmont, Sept. 29 Norfolk at Santa Anita and Arlington-Washington Futurity at Arlington, and Oct. 6 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and Champagne at Belmont.