MoxieTalk with Kirt Jacobs #486: Bob Baffert

🏆 Career Achievements

Kentucky Derby

• • Winner 7 times (1997, 1998, 2002, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2023) – though the 2021 victory with Medina Spirit was later disqualified.

Preakness Stakes

• • Winner 8 times (1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2023).

Belmont Stakes

• • Winner 3 times (2001, 2015, 2018).

Triple Crown Victories

• • American Pharaoh (2015) ended a 37-year drought, the first Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.

  • Justify (2018) became only the second undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown.

Breeders' Cup Success

• • Multiple Breeders' Cup victories, including the Classic, Sprint, and Juvenile races.

Awards & Recognition

• • Four-time Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer.

  • Inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2009.

  • Consistently ranked among the all-time leading trainers in purse earnings.

⚖️ Controversy

• Baffert has been at the center of medication controversies and suspensions. Notably, Medina Spirit failed a post-Kentucky Derby drug test in 2021, leading to disqualification.

• These controversies have tarnished his public image but have not erased his impact as one of the most dominant trainers in modern history.