Free Republic

“Who’s the bad guy now?” “I’m the one who knock-knocks.” “Either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.” Bob Baffert may be practicing some of those lines ahead of his return to Churchill Downs. The Hall of Fame trainer from the West Coast has a chance to do something that would make Hollywood producers blush. America loves to tear down public figures, then build them back up. This spring, Bob Baffert is preparing for the ultimate comeback story.

yes...this 3 year old is named after hockey great Mark Messier....look at this boy run...

It could be the farm itself, where Rice’s son Kevin and his wife Emily reside, and where Gail Rice stayed at foaling time in a camper by the driveway. The ecosystem itself can prove downright recuperative: dogs, goats, a week-old foal hanging next to the mare, chicks scrambling around in the grass, potbellied pigs named Chester and Walter. “He’s such a cool dude,” Rice said, patting Chester. “So I’m like, ‘God told me to get my butt home, right in time,’ ” Gail Rice said, “because the feet were coming out too far up and torn through, and so, it...

The Curse of Apollo has lasted for 136 years, but Justify has a strong chance to make history by winning the Run for the Roses after not racing as a 2-year-old LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Bob Baffert is a four-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with a stable full of champion thoroughbreds, most recently sweeping the Triple Crown with American Pharoah in 2015. He often works with the sport’s best horses, so it wasn’t particularly noteworthy when a young colt named Justify entered his barn late last year. “I just can’t remember offhand,” Baffert said last month about his earliest memories of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby...

In just two races, The Factor has blazed his way to a place among the most exciting three-year-olds in the nation. The Rebel Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Oaklawn Park will be a crucial step in determining how far his talent will take him in horse racing. The War Front colt’s trainer, Bob Baffert, will look to Oaklawn for the second straight year as a proving ground for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1). Last February, Baffert sent a horse to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the first time since 2001, and he may have wondered what took him...