Bob Baffert Trainer Bob Baffert's election to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame was announced on April 20. He grew up on an Arizona cattle ranch near the Mexican border and got started in the horse business grooming and galloping Quarter Horses owned by his father. After graduating from high school in 1971, he pursued his dream of becoming a jockey, winning 30 races, but grew tired of trying to maintain jockey weight, so he enrolled at the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program. After a year of working different jobs following his college graduation, Baffert put together a small string of Quarter Horses at Rillito Downs in Tucson, eventually training four Quarter Horse champions. He made the transition to Thoroughbreds during the late 1980s, in large part due to the encouragement of owner Mike Pegram and Hal Earnhardt, and gave up his Quarter Horse division in 1991 after recording a stakes triple in the California Cup during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. Baffert has won two legs of the Triple Crown four times: with Hall of Famer Silver Charm (1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness), Real Quiet (1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness), Point Given (2001 Preakness and Belmont) and War Emblem (2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness). He’s won three straight Eclipse Awards from 1997-99 and led in national earnings four straight years from 1998-2001. In addition, the conditioner has trained such other top horses as Eclipse champions Indian Blessing, Midnight Lute, Chilukki, Silverbulletday and Vindication. Indian Blessing and Midnight Lute are but two of Baffert’s many Breeders’ Cup winners, scoring in the 2007 editions of the Juvenile Fillies and Sprint, respectively. Midnight Lute defended his title in the Sprint last fall. Baffert was also the trainer of champion Midshipman, who was transferred to Godolphin after taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
