Bob Baffert: 2026 Kentucky Derby Trainer Profile

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is not just a Southern California fixture. He has been one of the most recognizable trainers in the world during his decades-long career training thoroughbreds, and he remains in the spotlight today. With six Kentucky Derby wins, Bob Baffert is tied with Ben Jones for the most victories in the history of the Run for the Roses. Those six include a pair of Triple Crown winners: American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018.

Bob Baffert was away from the Kentucky Derby between 2022 and 2024: the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission suspended him three months because Medina Spirit tested positive after the 2021 Kentucky Derby, and Churchill Downs suspended him for three years. He returned to Churchill Downs in November 2024 when Barnes won a maiden special weight race, and got back into the Derby the following May with 15th-place finisher Citizen Bull.

Baffert had a lot of possible prospects for the Kentucky Derby, as he always does. However, he qualified one horse into the field this year: Potente, winner of the San Felipe (G2) and runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby (G1).

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Bob Baffert in the Kentucky Derby

Bob Baffert has become virtually synonymous with the Kentucky Derby in recent decades. His six winners from 34 starters include Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), War Emblem (2002), American Pharoah (2015), Justify (2018), and Authentic (2020). Among those, American Pharoah and Justify won the Triple Crown, and all but Authentic also won the Preakness Stakes.

In addition to his six winners, he has six other runners who have finished in the money. They date back to 1996, his first ever year starting a horse in the Run for the Roses, when Cavonnier finished second to Grindstone. His other money finishers include Indian Charlie (third in 1998), Congaree (third in 2001), Pioneerof the Nile (second in 2009), Bodemeister (second in 2012), and Dortmund (third in 2015).

Baffert has trained nine Kentucky Derby favorites, including two who were part of a coupled entry in 1999. Both of his winning favorites, American Pharoah and Justify, won the Triple Crown. Only two of his other favorites hit the board, Indian Charlie and Bodemeister.

Bob Baffert in the Triple Crown

Baffert has started 26 horses in the Preakness Stakes and won the second jewel of the Triple Crown eight times, leading all trainers. Six of those winners have also won the Kentucky Derby: meaning every horse of his that has won the Kentucky Derby has also won the Preakness. (Note that Medina Spirit, who had not yet been disqualified by Churchill Downs from the Kentucky Derby at the time, contested the Preakness but only ran third behind Rombauer in the race.) His two Preakness winners who did not win the Kentucky Derby are Lookin at Lucky in 2010 and National Treasure in 2023. In addition to his winners, Baffert has hit the board with four other runners.

Across the three Triple Crown races, Bob Baffert has the fewest starters in the Belmont Stakes, with just 13 runners in the final jewel of the Triple Crown. He has three winners in the race: Triple Crown champions American Pharoah and Justify, as well as 2001 winner Point Given, the beaten Kentucky Derby favorite who went on to win the next two races in the series. He has three second-place finishers in the race, as well.

2026 Kentucky Derby Contender Potente

Bob Baffert has already won the Kentucky Derby once with a horse who didn’t race at two and had only raced three times before starting in the Kentucky Derby – not every horse is 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, of course, but he is going to try again with Potente, who went from unraced to comfortably qualifying for the Run for the Roses in the span of just over two months.

Three-Year-Old Season

Potente, a son of proven Kentucky Derby sire Into Mischief out of the Awesome Again mare Sweet Sting – a daughter of Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Perfect Sting – was bred for distance, and more to blossom at age three or older, as opposed to being a precocious runner. Knowing that, it makes sense that he made his debut at three, though it’s surprising (and, perhaps, a testament to his talent) that he was able to graduate at six furlongs. He battled on the pace in that January 31 maiden special weight at Santa Anita and boxed on best to win by three-quarters of a length.

That earned Potente a direct ticket to the Kentucky Derby trail for the San Felipe at Santa Anita on March 7. Dismissed at 8-1 on the board, he was the second-stringer from the Baffert barn behind odds-on Brant. However, Potente took the spotlight: he tracked the pace, chased down the lane, made real headway in the final sixteenth, and caught 67-1 long shot Robusta to win by a head at the wire.

Potente returned for the Santa Anita Derby on April 4, a race for which he was the 6-5 favorite after winning the local prep. Instead of the stalking style he showed in the San Felipe, he reverted to that speed-dueling style from his maiden win, battling with Robusta through the early fractions of the race. He won that battle but lost the war: So Happy was stalking the pace, lying in wait, and his stretch rally got him up by 2 ¾ lengths over Potente. Potente was still well clear of the rest, however, and the 50 points for second punched his ticket to the Kentucky Derby.

Juan Hernandez, who has been a top-level rider for Baffert for several years, rode Potente in both his Kentucky Derby points races. Hernandez keeps the call for the Run for the Roses, and it will be his first Kentucky Derby ride. However, Hernandez has won many other important races for Baffert, including the 2024 Arkansas Derby with Muth, who had to miss the Kentucky Derby due to Bob Baffert’s suspension by Churchill Downs.

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