Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert returns to the Kentucky Derby in search of a seventh victory on Saturday, but the Michael McCarthy-trained Journalism is the California colt favored to capture the first jewel in U.S. flat racing's Triple Crown.
Baffert, the polarizing 72-year-old whose Kentucky Derby winners include American Pharoah and Justify — two horses that went on to complete the Triple Crown — is back for the 151st Run for the Roses for the first time since 2021 — when his horse, Medina Spirit, crossed the line first but was disqualified after failing a drug test after the race.
Baffert was initially banned by Churchill Downs for two years, but in 2023, the iconic track in Louisville, Kentucky, extended his punishment, accusing him of continuing "to peddle a false narrative" concerning the drug test of Medina Spirit — who died later in 2021.
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