Bob Baffert is back.

Those four words tell you all you need to know about the top storyline entering Saturday’s annual running of the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Baffert — the polarizing, 72-year-old trainer — has been mired in scandal and missing from the last three editions of the Run for the Roses. Baffert initially won the 2021 Kentucky Derby with Medina Spirit, but that horse failed a post-Derby drug test, which kicked off a series of events that was highlighted by Churchill Downs suspending Baffert for three years.

Churchill opted to reinstate Baffert last July. So for the first time since 2021, Baffert has the ability this year to take part in the world’s most prominent horse race.

A six-time winner (not counting Medina Spirit) of the Kentucky Derby, Baffert is set to have two horses in this year’s field of 20. When post time arrives at 6:57 p.m. Saturday, Baffert will have Citizen Bull (post position No. 1 with morning-line odds of 20-1) and Rodriguez (post position No. 4 with morning-line odds of 12-1) in the starting gate.

But the week leading up to Saturday will be full of Baffert-focused discourse.

“Well, as far as Bob Baffert, he’s a superstar, right?” Scott Hazelton — a horse racing host and reporter for FanDuel TV who also works in several broadcast capacities at Keeneland — told the Herald-Leader. “He’s won six Kentucky Derbys. He had one taken away, and that obviously led to sitting out a couple of years. I think that that will consistently be brought up. That’s going to be something that media is going to ask of him a million times, to the point of exhaustion, as far as coming back to Churchill.”

It’s worth noting that this week is not Baffert’s first trip back to Churchill Downs since his suspension from the track was lifted. He had his initial Churchill return during the track’s 2024 Fall Meet.

Still, there’s no question that Baffert’s presence in this year’s Derby will drive attention to the race. Baffert is a two-time Triple Crown winner (American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018) who has reached the winner’s circle a record 17 times in Triple Crown races.

He is nothing short of a name-brand presence in a sport where the stars are normally the horses themselves.

The Baffert saga itself drew plenty of attention during the three years that he was banned from Churchill Downs. Now that he’s back, plenty of time will be spent predicting what the first Derby in four years with Baffert involved will feel like.

“I think it’s well publicized the issue that Churchill Downs had with Bob Baffert, and vice versa,” said Michael McCarthy, a fellow Kentucky Derby trainer who conditions this year’s prerace favorite, Journalism.

“I think this will draw, I’m not going to say it’s going to draw more people, but it will certainly draw more attention now that he’s back. Hopefully that’s good publicity.”

Trainers Casse, McCarthy talk Baffert

Of the 17 non-Baffert trainers who will be part of this year’s 151st Kentucky Derby, McCarthy can relate to Baffert on a level that few others can.

Both Baffert and McCarthy are based at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Daily interactions are the norm between Baffert and the 54-year-old McCarthy, who saddled his first Kentucky Derby runner last year with Endlessly.

McCarthy said the top 2- and 3-year-old horses in California are still being sent to Baffert.

“He has the clientele,” McCarthy said of Baffert’s standing in California horse racing. “He can spend (an) unlimited amount of funds on a horse simply by picking up the phone and piecing together the partnership, if he even needs to piece together a partnership. From the outside looking in, I think people have been reluctant to send horses to California, just because of that reason, that Bob is so tough to beat.”

McCarthy — whose horse, Journalism, is the Kentucky Derby morning-line favorite at 3-1 odds — added that he hopes things go smoothly for Baffert this week and that he hopes Baffert enjoys his Derby return.

“It’s good to have him back,” McCarthy said. “He is a polarizing figure in our sport. He puts people in the seats.”

Another longtime trainer who provided insight on Baffert’s return is Mark Casse. The 64-year-old Casse brings Sandman — starting from the dreaded post position No. 17 with morning-line odds of 6-1 — to the Derby this year.

Casse, who has his 11th Kentucky Derby starter with Sandman, agreed with the notion that Baffert’s return to the Derby will heighten interest in the event.

“I’m excited to have Bob back. Look, we all want to win. We want to win, but we want to beat the best. You don’t really want to win with a little asterisk,” Casse said. “… So I’m happy Bob’s back, and I hope to beat him. But there’s no question that Bob Baffert is very popular and draws a lot of people’s attention. He deserves to be back and I’m giving (the) best of luck to him.”

Well before Derby week began, Baffert endeared himself to a first-time trainer in this year’s Derby field.

Coal Battle is the first Kentucky Derby runner conditioned by Lonnie Briley, a 72-year-old from Louisiana who is the sentimental favorite for this year’s Run for the Roses.

During one of his first media engagements at Churchill Downs last week, Briley recalled Baffert introducing himself during the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company Sale.

“He said, ‘Man, I’m so happy for you. I’m Bob,’ and this and that,” Briley told reporters on the backstretch at Churchill Downs. “… We talked and cut up a little bit. I enjoyed that more than anything in the sale.”

FanDuel TV horse racing reporter Hazelton discusses Baffert

Hazelton, the FanDuel TV horse racing host and reporter, has a distinct perspective when it comes to discussing Baffert’s Kentucky Derby return. Hazelton is the son of an accomplished trainer. His father, Richard, won more than 4,700 races during a training career that lasted over 60 years.

“This is a man who is the master of 3-year-old horses,” Hazelton said of Baffert. “… He sat out the last couple of years and he’s back. We all thought that he’d be back with one of the major favorites, but it just has not panned out that way.”

To Hazelton’s point, Baffert is one of only two trainers in this year’s Kentucky Derby with multiple runners in the field — Baffert with Citizen Bull and Rodriguez and Steve Asmussen with Publisher and Tiztastic.

But in Baffert’s case, both Citizen Bull and Rodriguez will enter the Derby with plenty of questions still to answer.

Citizen Bull has won four times from six career starts, including last fall’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But he flopped in the Santa Anita Derby, finishing fourth from a five-horse field after fading badly in the stretch run. The Derby distance of 1 1/4 miles is a real concern for him.

Also not helping matters is Citizen Bull’s starting gate for the Kentucky Derby. He’ll leave from post position No. 1, and that starting slot hasn’t produced a Kentucky Derby champion since Ferdinand in 1986.

Rodriguez will run in the Kentucky Derby following a wire-to-wire win in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York City. But, the winner of that race hasn’t gone on to win the Derby since Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000. Early speed will be the name of the game for Rodriguez.

“His horses have been a bit inconsistent,” Hazelton said of Baffert’s current group of 3-year-olds. “Rodriguez is obviously a contender. But when you look at the group that (Baffert) came into the year with, I don’t think that anybody would have had (Rodriguez) above a horse like Barnes, a horse like Citizen Bull, the 2-year-old champion from last year.”

Despite all of this, doubt Baffert at your own peril. Along with his six Derby winners — Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), War Emblem (2002), American Pharoah (2015), Justify (2018) and Authentic (2020) — Baffert has saddled more than 30 runners in the Derby. He’s tied with Ben Jones for the most Derby wins by a trainer.

“You can never ignore Bob in these moments, right? With horses that you may not think are quite up to snuff,” Hazelton said. “He’ll have them ready to go. That’s just what he will do.”

This year isn’t a vintage crop for Baffert.

But his return to Churchill Downs for the 2025 Kentucky Derby will be the start of his second chapter in the prestigious race.

“Bob is going to be part of this scene until he ends up retiring, whenever that may be,” Hazleton said. “I don’t see that coming anytime soon. Because he is as good as it gets, and will continue to be. He’s consistently going to get support from owners that go and spend money at the Keeneland sales on yearlings that are of the best quality that you could possibly find.”

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