Welcome Home Triple Crown Winner and Arizona Wildcats Bob Baffert

As Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert will be acknowledged at half-time during the Arizona Wildcats vs. Utah Utes football game on Saturday, I will be reminded of special time spent with my brother before his passing.

I don’t know Bob Baffert.  I found out he graduated from the University of Arizona from a fellow College of Agriculture alum.  And I know he is a successful racehorse trainer, especially after watching his most famous equine, American Pharoah, win this year’s Triple Crown.  That about sums up my knowledge of my fellow Wildcat.

Yet Bob Baffert and I crossed paths the last several months in a unique way, but he doesn’t know it.  My family gathered together at my brother’s care center in Tucson on May 2nd to watch the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby.  My brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness and lived in his own room. Some of us bought ingredients for mint juleps, others brought food.  As we settled in for the race we knew this Kentucky Derby would be different.

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‘My Old Kentucky Home’ began playing and my brother looked at me with tears in his eyes.  I had only seen him cry at funerals, never anywhere else.  Was he crying because the song tugged at him since he spent the first few years of his life in northern Kentucky?  Or was it because the 2015 Kentucky Derby would be his last?

My brother enjoyed the sport of horseracing.  He saw the Derby in person on occasion, collected books about the industry, and a while back had a small financial interest in one of Cigar’s relatives.

The morning of the Derby, a couple family members dutifully placed his bet for him at Rillito Park.  We watched the coverage of the pre-race festivities along with the endless interviews, and laughed at the unique hats.  As predicted, American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby.

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

The summer continued, and two weeks later we repeated the fun in my brother’s room at his care center.  I’m sure the other patients wondered just what was going on with all the noise, food, drink, and activity coming from a room with a very sick patient.  He was the sickest resident, but together we were the rowdiest family. Like clockwork, American Pharoah won the Preakness Stakes.

Three weeks later, out-of-state relatives dropped in for a visit.  Great, that meant we’d have a bigger party for the Belmont with more food, drink, and chatter.  There were big decisions to made, after all, Bob Baffert’s horse might win the Triple Crown.  Should we get some take-out from Beyond Bread or Brushfire BBQ?

I want to compliment Bob Baffert and American Pharoah on their hard work.  And I want to thank them for entertaining my brother during his last months. Watching the Triple Crown race and American Pharoah winning with my brother was something I’ll never forget.

Spending that time with him, knowing he got to see something he had been waiting to see for a very long time was special. It was good timing, it got our minds off of the situation. How fitting that one of his last sports memories was watching the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

On August 29th, two hours after my brother was told he only had a couple days to live, American Pharoah was upset at Saratoga Springs.  It was okay, all the coverage was about Pharoah and his team. (Who won that race, anyway?)  I mentioned to my brother that Baffert would be visiting the University of Arizona during the Utah football game on November 14th.  That was so far away, though, he wouldn’t get to see it.

When American Pharoah won the Breeder’s Cup to complete the Grand Slam a few weeks ago, I watched alone and I cried.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

I don’t think it was because I was happy, I mean I don’t know Bob Baffert.  I think it’s because my brother didn’t get to see the farewell race that was so beautifully executed.  Well, maybe he did see it, maybe he had a great seat.

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So Bob Baffert, Saturday night at Arizona Stadium I will get to see you honored.  Thanks for the memories, for American Pharoah, and for coming back home to The University of Arizona.