Bob Baffert
Bob Baffert, a native of Nogales, Arizona, grew up on a chicken and cattle ranch and got and his start with horses when he was about 12 by grooming and galloping Quarter Horses owned by his father. He started training with Quarter Horses in Arizona in 1971 and saddled his first Thoroughbred winner in '79. He won the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer in '97, '98, and '99 and has trained seven Eclipse Award champions - Chilukki, Point Given, Real Quiet ('98 Derby), Silverbulletday ('99 Oaks), Silver Charm ('97 Derby), Vindication and War Emblem ('00 Derby). 2004 saw Baffert runners finish with over $7.6 million in earnings, good for fifth nationally. He is one of only three trainers ("Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons and Max Hirsch) to have won the Derby three times. Only Wayne Lukas and Dick Thompson (4 wins) and Ben A. Jones (6) have more Derby wins than Baffert.
Jerry Bailey
A member of Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame 1995 class, Texas-native Bailey began riding at Sunland Park in New Mexico and won with his first mount. Since those humble beginnings, he has become one of the premiere riders in the game. In 2003, Bailey broke his own record for North American earnings, as his mounts earned over $23 million; he also had a record 70 North American stakes wins. Last year, Bailey continued his success, though he was hampered statisically after suffering a wrist injury at his home, which caused him to miss a few months of riding time during the lucrative fall racing season. Nevertheless, he wound up in fifth spot on the 2004 earnings list when his mounts netted over $14.5 million. Last year saw him win Grade One stakes on Pleasantly Perfect, Sightseek, Peace Rules, and Kitten's Joy. He has won six Eclipse Awards and has ridden the major stakes winners Cigar, Skip Away, Hansel and Black Tie Affair, and Derby winners Sea Hero (1993) and Grindstone (1996). He makes his home in Davie, Florida, with his wife Suzee and son Justin.
Fog City Stable
Partners William Bianco and David Shimmon (pictured) campaign their Thoroughbreds under the name Fog City Stable, named for San Franciso, Calif., where Shimmon grew up in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. In 1973, Bianco started the Kinectics Group - a company that specializes in the semi-conductor and bio-pharmaceutical business. In 1990, Shimmon joined as a partner. From '90 to '98, the company went from $130 million in revenues to $750 million, providing the financial backbone for their Thoroughbred holdings. Their best horses include D'Wildcat and Blueprint.
Needham/Betz, Liberation Farm & Ashford Stud
The partnership of Roman Ruler's breeders begins with Phil Needham and William Betz, who operate their breeding farm near Lexington, KY. The began working together in 1986, and currently specialize in thoroughbred sales preparation, as well as keeping a few homebred mares for racing to strengthen their broodmare band. They have raced and bred several stakes winners, including Chief Seattle, Madcap Escapade, Celtic Melody, El Corredor, Dignitas, and Miss Alleged. They also co-manage Spendthrift Farm, where Chief Seattle stands stud. Liberation Farm is a large group of partners who board several horses a Needham/Betz. Ashford Stud, located in Versailles, KY, is the United States branch of Coolmore, who also has farms in Ireland and Australia. Ashford currently stands Fusaichi Pegasus, Thunder Gulch, Johannesburg, Giant's Causway, and Grand Slam, among others, at its Kentucky farm. They were the co-breeders of 2001 Derby runner-up Invisible Ink.
ROMAN RULER had to scratch out of the San Vicente March 5th, so Baffert is still looking for the first start of the year for his colt. After closing at 18-1 in Pool 1, he's 20-1 in the morning line this time. Very hard to get a read on the colt, but if anyone can get a horse to the Derby, Baffert can. He's been quoted as saying that he may go out of town next, and realistically, need to see a race to tell where he's at on the road to Kentucky. Anything 15-1 or less is too low, but if he gets much higher than that, he's still worth a shot.
Roman Ruler is from the first crop of 2000 Kentucky Derby champ Fusaichi Pegasus, who got off to a great start at stud -- he was the third leading first crop sire in 2004. Standing at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, Fusaichi Pegasus gained plenty of notariety when his son Fusaichi Samurai sold for a two-year-old world record price of $4.5 million at Fasig Tipton in February 2004. The colt won his maiden race sharply for Neil Drysdale, but recently came up with a minor injury that has knocked him off the Derby trail. Besides Fusaichi Samurai, our subject stallion has sired 23 other winners as of this writing, including the stakes winners South Bay Cove, winner of the Ontario Debutante Stakes; and Killenaule, who captured the Storm Cat at Keeneland. He is also the sire of the promising three-year-old Andromeda's Hero. Fusaichi Pegasus was also a sales sensation, bringing $4 million as a yearling and ultimately became the first favorite to win the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979. His Derby win, while not unexpected, marked the first time a son of Mr. Prospector had won the race -- previous thinking had been that the immortal sire could not generally get a 1 1/4 mile horse. However, Fusaichi Pegasus is closely related to Preakness winner Pine Bluff and Arkansas Derby winner Demons Begone, both horses with proven two-turn ability. On the female side, Roman Ruler has some very interesting influences. His dam, the unraced Silvery Swan, has already thrown two graded stakes winners from her four foals prior to Roman Ruler. The first, El Corredor, won the Cigar Mile (GI) on the way to earning $727,920 in just ten lifetime starts. The second, Silver Tornado, won the Reeve Schley (GIII) at three. Both horses were probably better at a mile or under, but were sired by noted sprint influences Mr. Greeley and Maria's Mon, respectively.
Probably more important are Silvery Swan's stamina influences: grandsire Quack and great-grandsire Never Bend, both on her direct tail-female line. Quack won six two-turn graded stakes, including the Hollywood Gold Cup (GI). In that race, he ran the fastest-ever 1 1/4 miles for a three-year-old, 1:58.20, while defeating older horses. Never Bend was a champion two-year-old, but also won the Flamingo and Woodward Stakes at three, in addition to finishing second in the 1963 Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness.
Dosage Index: 4.45
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