Arizona Alum Bob Baffert wins fifth Kentucky Derby

Saturday was a day of victories for Arizona sports, but perhaps the biggest victory was The University of Arizona’s Bob Baffert’s horse winning the Kentucky Derby.

The first Saturday in May is the biggest day in horseracing as all eyes focus on Lexington, Kentucky and the Kentucky Derby.

A horse can’t win the Triple Crown if it doesn’t win on Derby Day. This particular Derby featured two experience and successful racehorse trainers with multiple entrants, and both of these trainers graduated from The University of Arizona.

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Bob Baffert, the trainer of the most recent Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, had two horses entered in this year’s Kentucky Derby. Baffert was born in Nogales and raised on a ranch. He started working with quarter horses as a kid and then moved on to thoroughbreds.

Baffert graduated from Arizona having majored in the College of Agriculture’s Racetrack Management Program. His horse, Justify, was the favorite heading into Saturday.

Twenty horses made it to the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, and with six of them trained by Arizona graduates, the odds were good. Justify is a big horse, around 1260 lbs. Justify was ridden by jockey Mike Smith (Big Money Mike), 52, and helped Baffert to his fifth Kentucky Derby winning horse. Justify’s size in combination with his talent proved the prognosticators correct and he glided to victory on a rainy, sloppy track.

Meanwhile, fellow Wildcat alumni Todd Pletcher entered four horses in the 2018 Kentucky Derby. One of his equines, Audible, came in third. Last year his horse Always Dreaming won the Kentucky Derby. Pletcher graduated in 1989 with a degree inAnimal Science, also in UA’s College of Agriculture. On Saturday the University of Arizona’s President was joining in the fun with the nickname #AHorsesProgram mirroring Arizona Basketball’s @APlayersProgram.

Here is a little perspective.

The UofA’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (known as the College of Agriculture previously) flies under the radar most of the time. Some think the college is just farmers or cotton and maybe a cow. In fact, it’s a very personal, tight-knit college and U of A would not exist without it.

Back in the late 1800’s when The University of Arizona was born, it was established as a land grant college, mandating much of its focus be on agriculture and mining. For these reasons, those in the Ag programs have much pride. Now with UACALS’s Racetrack Industry program earning recognition, the rest of the campus and the country will come to know how great the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is.

Here is the entire race in case you missed it!

Not long after Justify was crowned, the Arizona Baseball team completed a sweep of No. 7 UCLA at Hi Corbett Field. It was certainly an afternoon for celebration, but the day wasn’t over. Arizona Softball had a doubleheader with Grand Canyon University. They squeaked out a 1-0 victory in the first game, then run-ruled in the second game with a final score of 9-0.

But wait, there is more! Arizona Basketball has no games scheduled, but Sean Miller has been working hard in preparation for the 2018-19 season. Not long before Bob Baffert’s win, Miller scored a huge victory by re-landing Brandon Williams after he decommitted in March.

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It’s not often any college scores victory after victory on any given day, so when it occurs it is a reason to celebrate. Kentucky Derby Day showcased Wildcats in a variety of venues with a variety of successes. We know Phoenix is Wildcat Country, Arizona is Wildcat Country, and it is safe to say the Kentucky Derby is Wildcat Country.