Luck is a funny thing, and can turn on the dime, and while sometimes that can be a bad thing. In the case of Bob Baffert these past few days, it’s been great! His luck has turned for the better and the legendary trainer and 17 time Kentucky Derby winner ,who hadn’t seen a solid win this past racing season, has just seen two!

After Nysos won at the San Diego Handicap, yet another horse trained by Baffert named Brant is making headlines for his victory in Del Mar.

Brant, bought for a whopping $3 million at the OBS March sale scored a 5 1/4-length victory at a special weight race in Del Mar. Brant was ridden by jockey Flavien Prat who also rode Nysos at the recent San Diego Handicap, and did well by his 4-5 favoritism in the race. Things get interesting here, because Brant, only 2 years old and now belonging to Zedan stables where Bob Baffert is signed on to train many of the horses, may well have an exciting future ahead of him, posing competition to the front runners of the horse world at the moment, Journalism and Sovereignty.

What is for sure now, is that Brant managed to make an impact on his first go of it, winning this maiden race by a sizeable margin and proving to live up to the $3 million purchase at the OBS March. This was a record breaking sale and $55 million more than the last OBS record that was set at $2.45 million, so surely Bob Baffert must be sighing in relief that he was the one to help make it worth the while!

What Brant’s success at Del Mar could mean for Bob Baffert

With Brant having just made such a grand debut at Del Mar and Bob Baffert’s other colt Nysos having won the San Diego handicap by a sizeable margin, it looks as though Baffert’s luck this year may have been limited by size, given Brant was also racing in a special weight race. The thing is, however, Sovereignty and Journalism, who are at the top of the game at the moment, are headlining all the big Grade 1 races, so the question is, will Baffert’s colts be ready for that this year?

Nysos may very well try and head into the Pacific Classic Stakes, with the $1 million bounty at the end of the Del Mar season, and over here he may very well run into Journalism, if the latter decides not to compete in the Travers Stakes and face the challenge of having to race Sovereignty again, a horse who is truly living up to his name.

Whether or not Brant will make an appearance at a Grade 1 race this year is yet to be determined, this recent win could have been beginner’s luck, but then again, Peter Brant of White Birch Farm, the owner and breeder of this young colt, couldn’t have possibly paid $3 million at the March OBS, in addition to whatever he is paying Bob Baffert, imagining that this horse wasn’t going to go big places, and win big races!

So, keep an eye out for Brant and Bob Baffert’s big comeback.