1 of 3 | Magnum Force (L), ridden by Colin Keane, beats Arizona Blaze, with Umberto Risoli up, to win the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at the Breeders’ Cup Championships at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., on Friday. Photo by Mark Abraham/UPI | License Photo
DEL MAR, Calif., Nov. 1 (UPI) — After three years of banishment from Churchill Downs, trainer Bob Baffert now holds the aces in the early maneuvering for a return to Louisville and an assault on the 2025 renewal of the Kentucky Derby.
Baffert-trained Citizen Bull and Gaming finished 1-2 in Friday’s $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, the race that annually crowns the very early favorite for the following year’s Derby.
He just missed sweeping the first three placings as his third entry, Getaway Car, finished fourth behind European entry Hill Road.
The Juvenile was the set piece in five Breeders’ Cup Championship races on the Friday program. Along the way, Immersive was an easy winner in the Juvenile Fillies, making her the early favorite for the 2025 Kentucky Oaks.
Baffert had been banned from Churchill Downs after a series of infractions, culminating in Medina Spirit’s disqualification from victory in 2021. His reinstatement was announced earlier this year, in time for his horses to earn qualifying points in the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series.
Baffert said reinstatement “means we don’t have to discuss that situation. That’s what it means.”
Citizen Bull, winner of the Grade I American Pharoah in his previous start, had things all his own way in the Juvenile and won by 1 1/2 lengths over his stablemate. The effort was aided when the race favorite, East Avenue, stumbled badly out of the gate and never got back into contention. East Avenue had been expected to contest the lead.
Baffert said that while all his 2-year-olds are improving and “it’s good to be in the conversation … you don’t know if you have a Derby horse until about February.”
Citizen Bull is an Into Mischief colt racing for a large partnership. He had won two of his first three races and was third in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity.
Immersive locked up the 2-year-old filly championship and became the de facto early favorite for the 2025 Kentucky Oaks with a comprehensive thrashing of an impressive international field in the $2 million NetJets Juvenile Fillies.
The Nyquist filly, trained by Brad Cox for Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin, entered the race undefeated and largely untested after her first three starts.
She finished the same way, rallying outside rivals on the stretch turn and drawing off to score by 4 1/2 lengths. She now has three straight Grade I wins following the Spinaway at Saratoga and the Alcibiades at Keeneland.
Vodka With a Twist was a long-shot second and Quickkick showed some late kick to beat Scottish Lassie for third.