Where Does Bob Baffert Rank Amongst the Greatest Trainers of All Time?
Baffert stands amongst the greatest all-time as a horse racing trainer.
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Bob Baffert’s name is synonymous with greatness in horse racing. The career of Bob Baffert as a trainer has put him on par with some of the greatest racehorse trainers of all time. Dale Romans, the trainer of the only horse (Keen Ice) to best Baffert in 2015, recently proclaimed Baffert as the greatest (racehorse) trainer of all time.
The accolades being heaped upon Bob Baffert are befitting a man who accomplished what no trainer has in 37 years by ending the famed Triple Crown drought. His crown jewel, American Pharoah, won the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby, and won an impressive 8 consecutive starts dating back to his first win at the September 2014 Del Mar Futurity as a two-year old. Although Baffert feigns modesty over American Pharoah’s success, a look at the career of this trainer places him on every list of great trainers in the history of horseracing.
Bob Baffert’s Career
The stack of wins amassed by Bob Baffert in his 40-plus years in horse racing place him in rare company as a trainer. In his career, Baffert has multiple wins at the three major Triple Crown races and in the Breeders Cup series. Beginning in 1992 with his win at the Breeders’ Cup Sprint race with Thirty Slews, he has the most series wins at four. He has also trained winners that have won the Kentucky Derby four times, Preakness Stakes six times and Belmont Stakes 2 times.
Bob Baffert is a 2009 inductee into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame and has earned the U.S. Champion Trainer award four consecutive years (1998-2001) based on earnings. He is also a winner of the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer three consecutive years (1997-1999). His accomplishments are on par with both U.S. and European trainers such as Mick Channon and Aidan O’Brien.
How Baffert Measures Up Against the Greatest Horse Racing Trainers of All-Time
When compared to the accomplishments of other trainers in history, it is easy to make a compelling argument for Bob Baffert’s insertion at or near the top of all racehorse trainers. Baffert’s career wins at the Kentucky Derby are two less than that of legendary Triple Crown and hall of fame trainer Ben A. Jones. His six wins at the Preakness Stakes, with the most recent one being logged by American Pharoah in 2015, places him one behind hall of fame trainer R. Wyndham Walden. His six Preakness wins also tie him for second all-time with the contemporary great D. Wayne Lukas, the only trainer to win the triple crown with two different horses, Thunder Gulch and Timber Country, in 1995.
Given all that he has accomplished, there seems little doubt that the 62-year old Bob Baffert is at the pinnacle of his profession as a horse racing trainer. Dating back to his first win as a trainer in Arizona at Tucson’s Rillito Park in the 1970s, Baffert has adopted a style and philosophy that has made him second to none, and one of the winningest trainers in the sport.
