2025 has been anything but kind to Bob Baffert. For a man with 17 Triple Crown race wins to his name, disappointment doesn’t usually stick around long, but this season tested even his resilience. The Pennsylvania Derby slipped away when his heavily favored colt, Goal Oriented, could do no better than third. Another year, it seemed, was slipping through his fingers. Then came Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Enter Nothing Like You – a 4-year-old Malibu Moon filly who hadn’t tasted victory in 17 months. With one emphatic move, she flipped the script. In the $75,000 Dark Mirage Stakes, she ended the drought and reignited the Bob Baffert magic, delivering a victory that felt less like a checkmark in the record books and more like redemption.

Owned by Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff Giglio, and John Rogitz, Nothing Like You ran the kind of race trainers dream about. She shadowed longshot Getthemoney through the early fractions, bided her time on the backside, and when Juan Hernandez asked with 2½ furlongs left, she exploded past the field. By the wire, she was 1¾ lengths clear of 27-1 outsider Double Cappuccino, the clock stopping at 1:36.45 for the mile.

Hernandez hardly broke a sweat; Baffert’s fingerprints were all over the preparation. The filly’s resume now shines even brighter. Out of the Brother Derek mare Miss Derek, Nothing Like You had already stamped herself in 2023 with a romping 5¼-length win in the Grade II Starlet Stakes, followed by her conquest of the Grade II Santa Anita Oaks in spring 2024.

With the Dark Mirage on her mantel, she stands at 5-for-13 lifetime, carrying career earnings of $567,160. At the betting windows, she returned $2.40 to win in a race with no show wagering. For Los Alamitos, it was déjà vu: her second straight win at the track and the third Dark Mirage in five years for the Baffert-Hernandez duo, joining Ganadora (2022) and Show Card (2024). However, the true narrative is in the contrast: why did Bob Baffert lose in the Pennsylvania Derby when Goal Oriented is aware of only one thing: victory?

Bob Baffert’s Goal-Oriented battles hard

The story in the 2025 Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby was the tale of heartbreak. Goal Oriented, a 5/2 favorite, was sent out by Bob Baffert. Though Goal Oriented came in third to earn a place on the podium but was beaten by the winner, Baeza. The race started off with So Sandy leading, and closely behind him was David of Athens.

The colt, with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the saddle, was riding in the middle of the pack, but waiting till the right time to strike. The field was coming around to the last turn when Goal Oriented, under the guidance of Ortiz, came out to the outside and made a bid to take the lead. The colt, however, started to grow weary in the run, and Magnitude began to make his charge behind him, and finally took the second place. Baeza, who followed the leaders, came in late to win by 2 1/2 lengths. 

Although the result was third place, the performance of Goal Oriented during the Pennsylvania Derby proved its ability to compete at the highest level. The fact that he had previously won the Preakness Stakes has established him as a potential winner in the 3-year-old category. Bob Baffert, renowned for nurturing young talent, is perhaps more likely to tweak Goal Oriented’s training regimen even into the future when they might consider new races.

The strength of the colt and the possibility to compete with the highest levels of competition also indicate that he is not done yet, and fans can likely expect a lot more thrilling events in the coming seasons.