Horse racing-Baffert returns to Kentucky Derby after ban, Journalism hot favourite

NEW YORK : The crown jewel of American horse racing will welcome back the sport's most famous trainer at the Kentucky Derby this year, as Bob Baffert returns from a three-year ban, while heavy favourite Journalism hopes to make some headlines of his own.

Two Baffert-trained horses will be on the track for the first leg of the esteemed U.S. Triple Crown series on Saturday for the first time since 2021, with Citizen Bull and Rodriguez taking the first and fourth post positions respectively.

Churchill Downs banned Baffert for two years when his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a drugs test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The horse died of a heart attack months later and his title was subsequently stripped.

The track later extended Baffert's suspension through the end of 2024 but reversed course in July, after the trainer took responsibility for the positive drugs test, and lifted his ban.

Baffert, a near-ubiquitous figure at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, came back to the track to run colt Barnes in a maiden special weight race in November.

But with 17 wins in the famed Triple Crown series, his return for the 1-1/4 miles dirt race was the major news ahead of Saturday's run.

"Came here in November and it was nice, coming into the stable gate everybody was nice to me, welcoming me back, and so it's like I never left. I feel great," he told reporters. "When I get the emotions is the day of the derby."

His return has riled animal rights groups, with nonprofit PETA demanding increased scrutiny of Baffert's operation after a pair of horses he used to train died in separate incidents in April.

RED FLAG

PETA has long opposed thoroughbred horse racing.

"Bob Baffert's two dead horses only a month before the Kentucky Derby