As a sort of prelude to last Saturday's Preakness Stakes, the movie 50 to 1 was rented at Red Box.
With tax it was $1.64, and appropriately priced for the acting, but the story was still good of how a gelding by the name of Mine That Bird rode in a van pulled by a pick-up, driven by trainer Chip Woolley who had a broken leg, to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby.
Mine That Bird had qualified on his winnings as a 2-year-old in Canada. On the first Saturday in May 2009, on a sloppy track, Calvin Borel overcame a bad start and rallied down the rail in the stretch for a 6 3/4-length victory. Mine That Bird paid $103.20 for a $2 win ticket, the Kentucky Derby's second-biggest payout, behind Donerail, a 91-1 shot in 1913.
In the movie was an actor portraying trainer Bob Baffert. The sunglasses, white hair and overall superior attitude were a strong hint. That he was training Pioneer of the Nile, the eventual second-place finisher, made it official.
In the movie, the Baffert character made several snide remarks about Woolley and the owners of Mine That Bird.
The movie, while mildly entertaining, did not leave a good impression of Baffert, not that the California trainer would really care.
His job is not to make friends and influence people, unless they have the money to buy very well bred horses, in which case Baffert is all too happy to be friends and train their horses for monthly fees and 10 percent of all winnings.
In his 24 years as a trainer, Baffert has become wealthy, not bad for a guy who at the age of 38 decided to switch from training quarter horses in Arizona and New Mexico to training thoroughbreds all over the world, mostly though in California.
Baffert's success has been almost mind boggling. Including Saturday's Preakness victory, Baffert has won 2,064 races, including the Kentucky Derby 4 times, the Preakness 6 times, the Belmont Stakes once, as well as 10 Breeder's Cup races.
They could change the term "stakes race," to "Bob's World," and it might be accurate.
His horses have won 74 different stakes races, with multiple victories in many of those -- including four of the past five Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs and two of the past four Arkansas Derbies -- an amazing total of 229 in all.
Saying he is the trainer of the stars is like saying Snoop Dog knows a little about rap music.
Along the way, Baffert has ruffled feathers, been investigated about a rash of horse deaths a few years back that coincided with administering the thyroid drug Thyro-L to all of his horses, and has been roasted by almost every columnist who writes about horse racing for his aloofness.
Now, with two-thirds of the 2015 Triple Crown on his resume, and the final leg coming up June 6 at Belmont Park, writers are being a little kinder and gentler toward Baffert.
No one is coming out and writing it, or saying it for that matter, but the hint is since his heart attack in 2012, he might have mellowed.
A heart attack should be an humbling experience, but if Baffert is truly kinder and more gentle it may have something to do with just settling into a comfort zone.
Sure, he still has to sell himself. He admits he recruited American Pharoah (yes, it is misspelled) owner-breeder Ahmed Zayat and his son, Justin, who is the racing manager for Zayat Racing Stables.
Baffert has a second family now and they appear to be part of the daily operation. He's won every race and honor in the game, and he's 62 years old.
He seems relaxed even while training the world's best 3-year-old, who could be the one who makes Bob Baffert a true thoroughbred legend, nice guy or not.
Sports on 05/19/2015