Re: Justice for All (762 Views)

Besides the general idea of letting this large horse continue to grow into his frame, Elliot Walden in the post race presser revealed this nugget.

They had been wanting to get some horses to Baffert, once they sent Justify to him in 2017 he resided at the Los Al training center and Walden was nervous that he wouldn't get the personal attention at the B stable. He kept asking Baffert when the horse was moving to Santa Anita which didn't happen until very late. Once he worked there the first time Baffert really knew what he had but it was too late to unwind that loss of time. Not having trained a lot for Winstar you could see him lower on the pecking order than some of his lifelong big money clients, I mean you have to careful who you put in the B barn. How many trainers can "hide" a $500,000 Keeneland yearling....So he was deep on the bench so to speak but once the coach put him in it was Katy Bar the Door. On another note, Baffert gave thanks to Rick Hammerle who wrote up Justify's NW1 allowance race just for him and got it fill and run with a short field at Baffert's request. Any later and the timing wouldn't have been good to make either the Arkansas or Santa Anita Derbies. As the old saying goes, "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan." I think the next time Winstar sends him more horses they will get a closer look!