Full house for S'west trainer, but not Baffert

A Southwest Stakes without Bob Baffert lurking around the edges is like a five-star football recruit choosing Arkansas over Alabama or Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi agreeing on something.

As someone wrote about "White Christmas" being sung by someone other than Bing Crosby, you can't imagine it happening.

They could rename the Southwest, Oaklawn Park's first of three graded prep races for the Kentucky Derby, the Bob Baffert Invitational. The white-haired trainer from California has won the race four times in this decade, taking both runnings in 2012 when it was split.

Because of health reasons, Baffert seldom ventures east except for the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup but is ably represented on the road by assistant Jimmy Barnes. He's the guy in sunglasses in all the winner's-circle pictures with American Pharoah, Justify, Lookin at Lucky, etc.

But not yet at Oaklawn in 2019.

Baffert is sitting out today's Grade 3 $500,000 Southwest, one of three graded stakes on Oaklawn's Presidents Day card, as he did the $150,000 Smarty Jones on Jan. 25, winning the latter race last year with the ill-fated Mourinho before anyone outside California had heard of Justify.

Today marks one year since Justify, in a maiden race in California, burst upon the sport like a meteor crashing to Earth. The Scat Daddy colt, Baffert's fifth Kentucky Derby winner, marked his second Triple Crown champion and Horse of the Year in four seasons.

Oaklawn built a statue out front for the other one, American Pharoah winning the Arkansas Derby and Rebel here in 2015 before becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

Enhancing his Hall of Fame credentials, Baffert stocks up on horses like Imelda Marcos in shoes. He's still sorting out his new crop of 3-year-olds, although some are saying that juvenile champion Game Winner and Improbable, both trained by Baffert, may be the best one-two combination since the Beatles backed "Hey Jude" with "Revolution." For now, the weeding-out process continues in California, although don't be surprised if Baffert's name is in the program March 16 when Oaklawn offers the first $1 million Rebel Stakes.

The Southwest, with $300,000 and 10 points toward a possible Kentucky Derby start to the winner, has the look of a Monopoly game with trainer Steve Asmussen entering five horses. Whether any of the trainer's properties is Boardwalk or Park Place may come into clearer focus after race 9 today at Oaklawn, with 11 3-year-olds scheduled to go a mile and sixteenth.

Asmussen has trained more than 8,000 winners, including three giants of the sport -- Curlin, Rachel Alexandra and Gun Runner -- who account for four horse-of-the-year awards. But he's 0-for-19 in the only race that many people notice, the one in May at Churchill Downs for which the winner receives a bouquet of roses.

Wayne Lukas went through a stretch like this regarding the Kentucky Derby before he got to the podium with a filly, Winning Colors. So did Todd Pletcher before Super Saver, an Arkansas Derby runner-up, came along. No one will be surprised if at 53, after winning everything else in the sport, Asmussen's number comes up in the Louisville lottery some year.

With five horses in the Southwest, the native Texan is giving himself every chance. Five horses for five different owners with five separate betting interests: How does anyone watch them all or know what to say to all the losing owners afterward?

Here's a possible race scenario: Jersey Agenda, a classy Oaklawn winner going a mile Jan. 26, takes the early lead with a chance to wire the field under Ricardo Santana Jr. Long Range Toddy and Boldor, both gaining late when second and third in the Smarty Jones, stay close to the pace while Ninth Street, just up from Delta Downs, prepares a move from midpack.

The pace scenario and track condition, whether speed friendly (as in the Smarty Jones) or giving all runners a chance, will be crucial to Bankit's chances. A New York-bred stakes winner, Bankit closed with a rush for second in December's Springboard Mile at Remington Park but never got untracked on opening day at Oaklawn.

Bankit, with Jose Ortiz aboard, is the choice here over Jersey Agenda, who quickened the pulse on opening weekend. Gray Attempt, the Smarty Jones winner, may have too much to do from the rail post while Super Steed and Six Shooter, the latter with blinkers on, should run better the second time over the track.

Then again, Sueno could make it two Southwests in a row for California-based trainer Keith Desormeaux, whose My Boy Jack ran two giant races in the slop, prevailing at Oaklawn and coming from second to last in a field of 20 to place fifth in the Kentucky Derby. Corey Lanerie, the best rail-skimming rider since Calvin Borel, rides Sueno and would be a welcomed first-time Derby winner after the unexpected loss of his wife, Shantel, last year.

Sports on 02/18/2019

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