Medina Spirit’s ‘Cinderella story’ puts Bob Baffert in a league of his own

Bob Baffert called Medina Spirit’s victory in the 147th Kentucky Derby a “Cinderella story.”

It may very well have been for the bay colt, originally sold for $1,000 as a yearling, but it was anything but for Baffert, who on Saturday affirmed his status as horse racing’s greatest trainer.

Medina Spirit’s victory as a 12-1 underdog gave Baffert, 68, his seventh victory in the Super Bowl of Thoroughbred racing. He surpassed Ben Jones, who alone held the previous record of six Derby wins since 1952 before Baffert matched him in October when Authentic won the 2020 Derby.

“I never imagined last night I was gonna be sitting here,” Baffert said. “I’ve never been keeping score, records and stuff. … The seven wins? It’s like, I can’t believe I won two. I leave here like, ‘Wow, can you believe it?’”

Medina Spirit, out of Mongolian Changa by Protonico, was later purchased by first-time Derby owner Amr bin Fareer bin Mohammed bin Zedan for $35,000 as a 2-year-old. That price tag puts Baffert’s latest winner much closer in company to his second Derby champ —Real Quiet, purchased for $17,000 as a yearling in 1996 — than the six-figure winners he ran in 2015, 2018 and last year.

Baffert in his postrace interview with NBC referenced a recent sit-down with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick that aired during NBC’s coverage leading up to the Derby. He told NBC after the race that Belichick — a racing fan who has won six Super Bowl championships — gave him good luck.

“Racing is a tough profession,” Belichick said during the pre-taped segment. “You get one shot at it. There’s no halftime; there’s no timeouts to make adjustments. Once they come out of the gate, that’s it. You got two minutes to win, and that’s an incredible skill.”

Baffert in terms of marquee achievements put himself closer to Belichick’s former quarterback, Tom Brady, who won his seventh Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February, but his role in his Thoroughbred’s victories is closer to that of the 69-year-old coaching veteran than the 43-year-old Super Bowl MVP.

The winning never gets old, regardless of to whom the most credit belongs. Some of it, in all professional sports, goes to the owner. Zedan, as elated about the outcome during a phone call coming out of the restroom minutes before his news conference as he was in the Winner’s Circle, was quick to heap much of it back on Baffert, whom he likened to a painter at work.

“A lot of people at their job it’s kind of mechanical, and it’s a job,” Zedan said. “With Bob, and that’s why age is not a factor, Bob has a lot of years to go, it’s an art. It’s like Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso. It just comes naturally. You don’t find that in people a lot, especially in this race.

“It can’t be by coincidence. A seven-time Derby winner. You can’t win two Triple Crowns (by accident). It just doesn’t happen.”

Baffert’s two Derby winners that preceded Authentic — American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018) — won the Triple Crown. Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet got close, both taking the Preakness Stakes before finishing second in the Belmont Stakes. War Emblem, his 2002 Derby champ, also won the Preakness but ran eighth in the Belmont.

The Preakness is May 15. After leading the Derby wire-to-wire, Medina Spirit will likely go off as the favorite there. That’d likely bring back some of the nerves that were absent in Baffert on Saturday.

“This year I really enjoyed myself,” Baffert said. “I came in here under the radar and thought, ‘Well, maybe we’ll get a piece of it or something.’ … What he did today, he’s got so much of Silver Charm in him. He’s a fighter.”

Bob Baffert lost his slipper a while ago. Medina Spirit might not wear his long.

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