Bob Baffert, the 34-year-old conditioner of World Champion Gold Coast Express, is considered by some people to be a youngster in the world of trainers. He has, however, compressed a multitude of race horse experiences into his 34 years and . . . he has the gray hair and the credentials to prove it!

There wasn’t a time when Baffert wasn’t around horses, and seldom was there a day when he didn’t ache to win “the big one.” Born in 1953, he grew up on a ranch at Nogales, Arizona. His father ventured into the world of race horses as nothing more than a pleasant diversion; a hobby that would provide him with an enjoyable outlet. It was 1964 when the Baffert family acquired Baffert’s Heller, a sorrel runner who claimed double breeding to the famed Ed Echols. Baffert’s Heller ran in 1963 and 1964. He then went through a three-year hiatus and didn’t return to the track until 1967. By the time he finished running in 1968, the sorrel claimed 13 starts with two victories and one second. His total earnings came to the rousing sum of $797! And, in the middle of all those modest numbers, he managed to set a track record when he skimmed across 250 yards in :14.10.

Baffert accompanied the sorrel to the race tracks, but he was the only one from his six brothers and sisters who found enjoyment in the activity. “I learned to ride on Baffert’s Heller after we retired him,” he laughed. “He’s 26 years old now; old and gray and still living with my dad. That horse will always be a part of us.

“Dad decided to train his own horses, and I became his groom. Sure I loved every minute of it, but it never dawned on me back then that I’d end up as a professional trainer. For one thing, I was bitten by the bug to be a jockey before I thought about training. I started galloping and began spending a lot of weekends at Rillito. I’d get out of bed and gallop a couple of horses before taking off for school. There were times when Dad would pull up to the school door and I’d jump into the truck with him. We were off to a match race. I was learning to love everything and anything connected with race horses.”

As Baffert began closing out the high school phase of his life, he directed his thoughts toward veterinary medicine. Before going into college, however, he couldn’t resist the urge to take one more shot at jockeying. “I made my way to California,” he recalls, “and began riding Dr. Ed Allred’s third string horses. One day, Doc felt sorry for me and let me ride Zippy Hank. He even told his trainer to drop the horse to a $1,250 claiming race so I could win! I finally won three or four and pushed the jockey bug out of my system.”

It was back to Arizona for Baffert where he enrolled in the University of Arizona. His intentions were still directed toward veterinary medicine; but working with the couple of horses his family still had in training and the distracting pursuits of fraternity life sidetracked him from his original intentions! He switched majors, concentrating on Animal Science and Racetrack Management.

“I still had the racing fever after I graduated,” he laughed. “I just couldn’t shake it. We owned a horse called Pete Hoist around that time. That devil was always the fastest qualifier for a race, but he could never win the finals. I went to Prescott with him, and he turned me into a nervous wreck. I decided the training business was definitely not for me. There were just too many disappointments, and far too many major letdowns. Who needed it? I vowed I’d never train again.”

With that vow fresh on his lips, Baffert landed a job with a veterinary supply company. It didn’t turn into what one might refer to as a career. As a matter of fact, it lasted only six months. “But it helped me,” insists Baffert. “It taught me how to deal with people but, all the time I was dealing with people, I kept thinking I’d never won a stakes race and . . . I wanted one . . . bad!”

Pete Sammons offered Baffert a job running his Prescott ranch for him. Baffert agreed, but he also convinced his friend to purchase a race horse. The outcome was a second in the Prescott Futurity. Baffert still didn’t have his big one.

Through a set of unintentional circumstances, Baffert next found himself taking over a string of horses for a trainer at Turf Paradise. And all of sudden, he found himself entering a new experience . . . that of training for the public. “It was 1979,” he remembers. “I had some good horses and, right off the bat, I won a stakes race. I went on to win every futurity and derby Arizona offered back then.”

By 1981, it looked as if Baffert was, indeed, headed for the racing big-time. He had a filly by the name of Love N Money by Easy Jet and out of American Dream by Hoist Bar. He won the West Texas Derby at Sunland Park with her in 1982. In that same year, he won the first Budweiser Derby at Turf Paradise with War Star Wrangler out of Dainty Lake by the Thoroughbred Lake Erie. Love N Money wound up with $272,115 in earnings and a track record at Rillito for 400 yards in :19.86. War Star Wrangler wound up his career with 60 starts and earnings of $336,461. The brown gelding was off the board only three times. Both were more than a far cry from Baffert’s Heller.

It was Kellys Coffer, a 1979 filly by Allstar by Jet Deck and out of The Wind Mariah, who proved to be Baffert’s first big runner in Arizona. He took the filly and returned to Prescott with her. This time, he won the Prescott Futurity. Before Kellys Coffer left the race tracks, she earned $252,771.

By 1980/81, Baffert was winning 100 races each year. “Don’t forget that I started when I was 13,” he laughed. “Some people think I made it to where I am in a hurry. Well, that isn’t true when you consider I’ve been at it for more than 20 years. I do admit, though, that training always seemed to come easy for me. Why? I think it’s because I grew up around horses my entire life. I had the advantage of solid horsemanship behind me. That’s the kind of background that allows someone to look at a horse and know, almost instinctively, if something’s wrong with the animal either mentally or physically.” 

Baffert hooked ‘em for the Golden State in 1983. He’d made big strides in Arizona and decided it was time to take on the rather heady sensation of Los Alamitos. He had a string of 30 horses and he selected only the best to accompany him to the big apple of racing. “Rillito closed,” he explained, “and I hauled nine of my best runners to California for the winter meet. I figured I’d pack up again and return to Rillito as soon as the meet was finished.”

Landing at Bay Meadows for the winter season, Baffert entered a red roan filly named Five Oclock Rush (by Such A Rush and out of Hijo The Annie by Hijo The Bull) in a feature race. She ran fourth. A second horse from Baffert’s string ran third, and another ran fourth. The trainer who’d been sitting on top of the heap in Arizona was filled with the same disappointment he’d felt when he’d just started out. By the end of the third race, he’d determined to pack up and head back for Arizona. That, surely, would be better than facing a long winter of nothing. He changed his mind, however, the minute Five Oclock Rush came through and won for him.

“I thought I was a good trainer until I hit California,” mused Baffert. “Things were so different. For one thing, we didn’t run our horses as often in Arizona. For another, a trainer may have ten head in California and each one is as good as the other. That means each one must always be in tip-top condition. California trainers also face the ever-present soundness problem because of the frequent racing. That means doing far more leg work than I’d done in Arizona. It was a full year before my confidence level had worked its way back up, before I actually felt secure in putting a horse on the track. It took me that long before I began believing in my own personal game plan of training. I watched other trainers and then I watched some more. All the time, though, I kept the procedures and processes I’d used in Arizona in my mind. Finally, I stayed with my tried and true formula and supplemented it with careful, close attention to a horse’s legs.

“I can remember being interviewed when I first arrived at Los Alamitos. One of the questions I was asked was to define what I would consider as a successful meet for me. I answered: To win a stakes. Well, I didn’t win a stakes race during that first year. It took me one year to even make the trainer standings, and it was three years before I really took off. I’d brought some nice Arizona horses with me but, again, things were different in California. I didn’t know where those horses fit. I didn’t know where and how to run them. It was all learning and, gratefully, I finally learned.”

It was Kellys Coffer who gave Baffert his first big win in California. The filly had been under the tutelage of trainer Mike Robbins but, since Robbins wasn’t planning on making the trek to Bay Meadows, Kellys Coffer moved to Baffert’s barn. One of the next outstanding additions to his string was Neats Wonder by Chicks Deck Wonder and out of Neat’s Tonto Bar by Tonto Bars Hank. Neats Wonder wound up with $152,100 to his credit. In the beginning, though, Baffert’s barn was filled with nothing but claiming runners. 

It’s been a 20-plus year road for Baffert. Now, he trains for 18 owners; and he refuses to take what he refers to as “just any horse. I’ve always been that way,” he insists. “I was like that in Arizona and I stayed that way after I moved to California. I don’t believe in day money. It’s a waste for the owner, for the horse, and for me. I can’t work miracles with a horse. No trainer can. The talent is either there or it isn’t. It’s up to the trainer to develop the potential, but a trainer can’t create it.

“I think one of the things for which I’m most grateful is the fact that so many of my Arizona owners stayed with me in California. Kent Schuck, one of my first owners, is still with me along with Bob Kiekeffer and Hal Earnhardt. Kent raises his own horses. Kim Kessinger is another super owner. I would have fallen flat on my face if it hadn’t been for those guys.”

Baffert must have something going for him. In addition to the winning runners he has in his list of credits, he also lays claim to having lost not more than two owners within the last seven years. That, in itself, is a major accomplishment since switching trainers is not highly unusual in this hectic business. How does Baffert feel about that? “Owners have a right to switch,” he says. “After all, they pay the bills.”

It was July of 1986 when the palomino gelding named Gold Coast Express turned up in Baffert’s barn. He’d just won the Clabbertown G, and a more than amusing story preceded the gelding’s arrival. “I used to train for some Arizona folks who had the same last name as Bill Mitchell,” reveals Baffert. “I didn’t have a super relationship with them because they just couldn’t understand why their horses weren’t capable of winning.

“Well, I received a message to call Bill Mitchell and, of course, I thought it was the guy from Arizona. I didn’t return the call. The following night, Sherry, my wife, told me Bill Mitchell had called three times and asked that I please return his call. I muttered to myself and went to the telephone. 

“Bill answered the phone and almost immediately asked if I had room for more horses in my barn. I stood there wondering what in the world to do. Finally, I asked him what horses he wanted to send. He wound up thinking I was one cocky son-of-a-gun! He answered: Gold Coast Express. I said: Oh, you’re that Bill Mitchell!

“How did I feel after Gold Coast Express arrived? Simple . . . as if an angel from heaven had dropped down on me. I knew, without a doubt, good things would come. I knew he was the fastest horse on the grounds. I’d run Rocky Jones in the Town Policy. Rocky was a good runner and he ran his heart out in that race. Still, Gold Coast Express beat him by 1 ½-lengths. I knew that palomino was super. There was something else. The first horse I ever saw run at Los Alamitos when I was a kid was the yellow Kaweah Bar. I fell in love with that yellow runner and I never forgot him. I watched him gallop, and he was unbelievably great. As a kid, I dreamed I’d have a horse just like him.”

It was 1985 when Baffert and jockey Kip Didericksen hooked up and, according to Baffert, that’s when he really began taking off as a trainer. Shortly before the Clabbertown G, Baffert confided something special to the jockey. He said, “Boy, if I could just one day get a horse like Gold Coast Express. Having him would provide a brand new incentive to go to the barn in the mornings.

“Sure, getting Gold Coast Express was somewhat of a pressure situation. I had everything to lose. The horse was good and everyone knew it. It would be a catastrophe if he didn’t live up to the potential everyone knew he had. I never had a moment’s enjoyment when I first began running that horse. It was a must win situation and it was tough. The very first time I felt relaxed with him was in the Champion of Champions. Why? Because Cash Rate had all the billing. I honestly didn’t think we’d win that race, but the good things I knew would happen with Gold Coast Express did happen and . . . we won.”

How does Baffert describe the yellow Gold Coast Express now that he’s been responsible for him for more than one year? “He’s an animal,” laughed the trainer. “He’ll eat you alive in the mornings. Don’t misunderstand. He’s not always mean or vicious or ill-tempered, but he’s always on the ready. It’s impossible to gallop him without a pony horse. He’s quick and he’s powerful, moving just like a four-legged Sugar Ray Leonard. He looks at absolutely everything and checks it out. At the same time, he’s not at all nervous or hyper. If he has a problem, it’s that he has a tendency to react before he really looks . . . almost like fighting first and asking questions later.

“I guess, in some ways, this yellow horse is a paradox. He’s all things I said, but he’s also easy to train. You want to know the truth? Anyone can train a runner like Gold Coast Express but . . . it’s the management of him that’s difficult. To my way of thinking, there are no great trainers in this business but there certainly are some great managers.”

Some people may think Baffert entertains a supreme confidence level about his yellow horse. But on the other hand, why shouldn’t he? Currently, Baffert insists there’s only one other horse around who can whip the palomino, and that’s an individual by the name of Slick Talker who was purchased by Bill Mitchell in the All American Sale from the Allred Brothers. “This Slick Talker is going to be one phenomenal runner,” enthused Baffert. “I used to watch his mama run all the time when I was in Arizona. But Gold Coast Express? Well, he may beat himself through mistakes but he won’t be outrun. Not right now. He’s smart and he’s sound. He’s perfectly correct in conformation. He’s straight, long, and well balanced. He’ll be super strong this year.

“I don’t feel the same pressure with Gold Coast Express that I felt in the beginning. The horse made a lot of mistakes as a two year old and, as a result, he was overlooked. Basically, he’s left those mistakes behind him. Besides, I have him figured out! I think another aspect that’s helped tremendously is the fact that Bill Mitchell and I have absolute trust and confidence in one another. That works as an advantage for the horse.”

Bob Baffert has worked hard during the 20-plus years he’s been around horses. He also attributes at least a portion of his success to luck. “I’ve been a very lucky person,” he says quietly. “I think my luck really changed when I met my wife, Sherry. We’ve been married 2 ½ years, and now we have Taylor who’s 1 ½. Taylor’s definitely part of my luck. We’ve taken him to three races and I won all three!”

Baffert has a tendency to look at the entire picture when he views himself within the world of race horse trainers. He can pinpoint his beginnings. He can define himself currently. And . . . he can even look down the road and see a possible end. “My father plays a major role in the Gold Coast Express story,” he said. “Wasn’t he the one who started everything for me? He and my brother are two of my biggest fans. Dad comes out once in a while and watches me. He still lectures me and thinks I’m slacking off.

“You know what I think is one of the key factors with me? It’s the fact that I never think about the money part! I know . . . a lot of people will hear that and say, ‘Oh, sure,’ but I’m telling the truth. I’ll quit training the day it’s no longer fun, the day I have to drag myself to the barn. I guess most people would characterize me as a laid back type of person, which is the way I view myself. I want to win those races but, like Gold Coast Express, I’m not hyper. I have gray hair, but I promise you it’s simply a matter of premature color changing! And you want to know something else? My dad has never won a stakes race!”

That last statement may be the only one that doesn’t ring true in the Bob Baffert story. His dad has won a host of stakes races. He’s won them in Arizona, in California, and in New Mexico. He’s won them with horses such as Kellys Coffer, Neats Wonder, War Star Wrangler, Love N Money, and Gold Coast Express. He’s won them, plainly and simply, through his son.