Bob Baffert horse scratched from Kentucky Derby ahead of return from ban

Rodriguez, who was set to compete in Saturday’s 151st Kentucky Derby, has been scratched by trainer Bob Baffert ahead of the annual Run for the Roses. Tom Ryan, the Managing partner of SF Racing with Team Baffert, announced the news on Thursday. Baeza will instead run in Rodriguez’s place.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have made a very tough decision to scratch our Derby horse, Rodriguez. He has a small but slightly sensitive foot bruise that will need a few more days. Therefore, we are resetting our plans and will target him for the Preakness,” Ryan wrote on X.

The Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, is set to run on May 17. It appears the Baffert team believes the correct remedy is to give the colt a couple weeks for added rest.

Rodriguez boasted 12-1 odds to win the Derby at the time of his scratch. He was viewed as a serious contender to win the race, especially afrer his 3 1/2 length victory in the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct. After all, his sire is Authentic, was the winner of the 2020 Kentucky Derby.

However, it will be Baeza taking Rodriguez’s place. Baeza was the runner-up at the Santa Anita Derby (G1), and co-owner Robert Clay feels confidenct in his chance. Clay said that his horse should finish in the “top five or six” and that the “oddsmakers will look on him pretty favorably.”

Rodriguez’s scratch does not mean that Bob Baffert does not have a horse racing in this year’s annual spectacle. Baffert still has Citizen Bull set to compete in the Derby. Citizen Bull is coming off a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, as is now the successful trainer’s last hope at securing another Kentucky Derby victory.

Saturday will be Baffert’s first Kentucky Derby since 2021 after he was handed down a three-year suspension from the event. His suspension stems from 2021 when he was caught for five drug-related violations over a calendar year — including with 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, who died later that year.

The racetrack extended his adjournment after rising concerns, “regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks.” Over his career, more than of his 30 racehorses have failed drug tests and has paid out over $20,000 in fines. His suspension was origionally slated to end following the 2023 Spring Meet. Instead, they extended that suspension through 2024, meaning this year is the earliest Baffert has been allowed to have a horse back in the Derby.