Latest news with #Baffert-trained
New York Post
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Two long shot picks to win the 2025 Belmont Stakes
Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards for more information. Guessing where the prices will go ahead of a Triple Crown race can be a tricky endeavor. There will be a lot more casual money in the pool than in a normal stakes race, so things can get a little funky behind the window as punters back horses with their favorite name, story, or connections. But the betting handle for the 2025 Belmont Stakes should be pretty easy to project. Most of the money is going to show up on the two favorites, No. 7 Journalism (8-5) and No. 2 Sovereignty (2-1). In all likelihood, Journalism and Sovereignty will go off shorter than 2-1, which could make this the tightest margin between the favorite and second choice at the Belmont Stakes since Strodes Creek (13-10) and Go For Gin (3-2) in 1994, per Ed DeRosa of Horse Racing Nation. It is easy to make the case for either Journalism or Sovereignty to win this race — the morning-line odds suggest it's essentially a 75 percent chance one of the favorites comes out on top — but there's a reason there are eight horses in this field, and not just two. After all, Go For Gin and Strodes Creek finished second and third, respectively, behind third-favorite Tabasco Cat in 1994. Here are my 2025 Belmont Stakes long-shot picks: No. 1 Hill Road (10-1) This price should balloon on race day. Not only will the punters be lining up to back the two headliners, but Baeza will be a trendy third choice, and Rodriguez will get plenty of support given the fact he's trained by Bob Baffert. That should set up a situation where Hill Road, who began his career in Ireland, will fly under the radar and hit the board at a big number. To do that, he'll need the race to follow a specific script. Like Sovereignty, Hill Road is a closer who will want the pace to be hot, and then melt down in the business end of the race. Should that happen, Hill Road could pass plenty of tiring foes on his way to a surprising finish. Crudo in his stall after his morning workout at Saratoga Race Course. Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images No. 5 Crudo (15-1) There are a couple of horses that could earnestly attempt to go from gate to wire in this field. Most pundits believe Rodriguez will be the horse that gets out into the lead from the jump, but Crudo could be right there with Baffert's entrant, or even jump out in front of the No. 3 horse. Rodriguez will be the trendier pick between the two front-running horses. Not only is he a Baffert-trained contender, but he will be fresh after he was scratched from the Kentucky Derby and skipped the Preakness. Get the lowdown on the Best USA Sports Betting Sites and Apps Those factors should keep his price in the single digits, while Crudo's odds hover around long-shot territory. But the real reason that Crudo, trained by Todd Pletcher, is a live long shot at Saratoga on Saturday is that he just wired the field in the Sir Barton Stakes three weeks ago on Preakness Day. The competition in that race was nowhere near what he'll face in the Belmont, but there's also a decent chance that this lightly raced horse owned by chef Bobby Flay and Jimmy Ventura continues to improve.
Straits Times
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Horse racing-Sovereignty rules muddy track to win Kentucky Derby
Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, in a thrilling fight to the finish line on Saturday to capture the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's famed Triple Crown. The bay colt thrived in the wet and sloppy conditions at Churchill Downs to finish the 1-1/4-mile race in two minutes and 2.31 seconds, beating the heavy favourite Journalism down the final straight. Journalism finished about a length behind while Baeza was third. The race marked famed trainer Bob Baffert's first trip to the derby after a three-year ban from the track. Churchill Downs had suspended him after his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a drugs test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. His horse, Citizen Bull, took the early lead from the pole position, hanging on through much of the race as a dense chase pack followed. Sovereignty and Journalism made their move at the same time, navigating around the outside on the final turn, battling nose-to-nose through the final 16th of a mile before Sovereignty pulled away in the final moments. "I saw him gearing up when he left the half-mile pole, he started to pick up his momentum, and I lost him a little bit," trainer Bill Mott said in televised remarks. "He made up a lot of ground in a hurry." Mott previously trained Country House, who won the derby in 2019 when Maximum Security became the first horse in the history of the race to be disqualified after crossing the line first. It was the first Kentucky Derby win for jockey Junior Alvarado, who deftly navigated through the pack from the unenviable 18th post position and said he never doubted the horse he called "Mr. Mud" would thrive in the mucky conditions. "I thought I had a great chance," said Alvarado, who was sidelined with a reported fracture in his shoulder only five weeks ago. "I was so confident the whole way." Baeza, who drew in after another Baffert-trained horse, Rodriguez, scratched on Thursday, sneaked into third as jockey Hector Berrios made a gutsy last minute move. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Mint
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Mint
Horse racing-Sovereignty rules muddy track to win Kentucky Derby
May 3 (Reuters) - Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, in a thrilling fight to the finish line on Saturday to capture the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's famed Triple Crown. The bay colt thrived in the wet and sloppy conditions at Churchill Downs to finish the 1-1/4-mile race in two minutes and 2.31 seconds, beating the heavy favourite Journalism down the final straight. Journalism finished about a length behind while Baeza was third. The race marked famed trainer Bob Baffert's first trip to the derby after a three-year ban from the track. Churchill Downs had suspended him after his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a drugs test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. His horse, Citizen Bull, took the early lead from the pole position, hanging on through much of the race as a dense chase pack followed. Sovereignty and Journalism made their move at the same time, navigating around the outside on the final turn, battling nose-to-nose through the final 16th of a mile before Sovereignty pulled away in the final moments. "I saw him gearing up when he left the half-mile pole, he started to pick up his momentum, and I lost him a little bit," trainer Bill Mott said in televised remarks. "He made up a lot of ground in a hurry." Mott previously trained Country House, the derby in 2019 when Maximum Security became the first horse in the history of the race to be disqualified after crossing the line first. It was the first Kentucky Derby win for jockey Junior Alvarado, who deftly navigated through the pack from the unenviable 18th post position and said he never doubted the horse he called "Mr. Mud" would thrive in the mucky conditions. "I thought I had a great chance," said Alvarado, who was sidelined with a reported fracture in his shoulder only five weeks ago. "I was so confident the whole way." Baeza, who drew in after another Baffert-trained horse, Rodriguez, scratched on Thursday, sneaked into third as jockey Hector Berrios made a gutsy last minute move. (Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Deepa Babington) First Published: 4 May 2025, 05:33 AM IST
CNBC
04-05-2025
- Sport
- CNBC
Sovereignty rules muddy track to win Kentucky Derby in a thrilling fight to the finish line
Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, in a thrilling fight to the finish line on Saturday to capture the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's famed Triple Crown. The bay colt thrived in the wet and sloppy conditions at Churchill Downs to finish the 1-1/4-mile race in two minutes and 2.31 seconds, beating the heavy favorite Journalism down the final straight. Journalism finished about a length behind while Baeza was third. The race marked famed trainer Bob Baffert's first trip to the derby after a three-year ban from the track. Churchill Downs had suspended him after his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a drugs test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. His horse, Citizen Bull, took the early lead from the pole position, hanging on through much of the race as a dense chase pack followed. Sovereignty and Journalism made their move at the same time, navigating around the outside on the final turn, battling nose-to-nose through the final 16th of a mile before Sovereignty pulled away in the final moments. "I saw him gearing up when he left the half-mile pole, he started to pick up his momentum, and I lost him a little bit," trainer Bill Mott said in televised remarks. "He made up a lot of ground in a hurry." Mott previously trained Country House, who won the derby in 2019 when Maximum Security became the first horse in the history of the race to be disqualified after crossing the line first. It was the first Kentucky Derby win for jockey Junior Alvarado, who deftly navigated through the pack from the unenviable 18th post position and said he never doubted the horse he called "Mr. Mud" would thrive in the mucky conditions. "I thought I had a great chance," said Alvarado, who was sidelined with a reported fracture in his shoulder only five weeks ago. "I was so confident the whole way." Baeza, who drew in after another Baffert-trained horse, Rodriguez, scratched on Thursday, sneaked into third as jockey Hector Berrios made a gutsy last minute move.
South China Morning Post
02-05-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Journalism hot favourite at Kentucky Derby as trainer Bob Baffert returns after 3-year ban
Bookie favourite Journalism arrived for the Kentucky Derby on the heels of three consecutive victories. Photo: AP The crown jewel of American horse racing will welcome back the sport's most famous trainer at the Kentucky Derby this year, as Bob Baffert returns from a three-year ban, while heavy favourite Journalism hopes to make some headlines of his own. A Baffert-trained horse will be on the track for the first leg of the esteemed US Triple Crown series on Saturday for the first time since 2021, with Citizen Bull taking the first post position. Baffert scratched his other trainee, Rodriguez, late on Thursday because of a 'small but slightly sensitive' foot bruise, co-owner Tom Ryan said on X in a move that drew Baeza into the field. Churchill Downs banned Baffert for two years when his horse Medina Spirit failed a drugs test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The horse died of a heart attack months later and his title was subsequently stripped. The track later extended Baffert's suspension until the end of 2024 but reversed course in July, after the trainer took responsibility for the positive drugs test, and lifted his ban. Baffert, a near-ubiquitous figure at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, came back to the track to run colt Barnes in a maiden special weight race in November. But with 17 wins in the famed Triple Crown series, his return for the 1.25-mile (two-kilometre) dirt race was the major news ahead of Saturday's run. 'Came here in November and it was nice, coming into the stable gate everybody was nice to me, welcoming me back, and so it's like I never left. I feel great,' he said. 'When I get the emotions is the day of the derby.' His return has riled animal rights groups, with non-profit Peta demanding increased scrutiny of Baffert's operation after a pair of horses he used to train died in separate incidents in April. Peta has long opposed thoroughbred horse racing. 'Bob Baffert's two dead horses only a month before the Kentucky Derby should be a red flag for Churchill Downs,' Peta senior vice-president Kathy Guillermo said in a statement. 'In addition, the track must account for its own appalling record as dead horses are turning it into a graveyard.' Churchill Downs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. With Citizen Bull's morning line odds at 20-1 as of midweek, Baffert will have his work cut out for him against Journalism, a beautiful bay colt with the biggest buzz among oddsmakers at 3-1. He arrived in Louisville on the heels of three consecutive victories and enjoys an impressive pedigree from sire Curlin, the 2007 Breeders' Cup and Preakness winner. Adding to his advantage, Journalism drew an enviable eighth pole position for Saturday, though trainer Michael McCarthy said he would have been comfortable seeing his horse anywhere from five to 15. 'With a horse like him, he gives you a lot of confidence. Wouldn't have mattered where he was drawn,' said McCarthy, who trained Rombauer to an upset win over Medina Spirit in the Preakness four years ago.
