Tami Bobo ready for second shot at Kentucky Derby with Simplification

Despite being around horses her entire life, Tami Bobo is in the midst of one of her biggest learning curves to date: managing a Kentucky Derby contender.

As the owner of Simplification, the 3-year-old, Florida-bred bay colt who earned his Derby berth in January by winning the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes, Bobo admits she didn’t have much Thoroughbred experience. Despite being on a horse at age 2 and showing horses all over the country while growing up in Ocala, Fla., Bobo’s foray into horse racing started just 12 years ago.

However, Bobo has made her livelihood in the horse industry since she was a teenager. She was just 17 when she became a single mother, and she continued riding and showing Arabian horses for a nearby Ocala farm to make ends meet.

When she was able to save money, Bobo would head to the local auction barn and began buying Quarter Horses that most people didn’t want. These “rejects” were considered “problem horses” or horses that weren’t yet broken or fit to ride. She would train and resell them, usually turning a modest profit.

“(Horses) are like humans: We’re not perfect and neither are they,” Bobo told NBC Sports ahead of the 2022 Kentucky Derby. “You learn to live with the imperfection and if you feel that that horse can overcome that imperfection, give that horse a shot.

“That horse doesn’t know that its front legs are little crooked, technically. It didn’t get a memo. That horse knows those are the four legs God gave him, and that’s how that horse goes through life. So, if you don’t create an issue for an animal, chances are, they’re gonna run through it.”

With every resale, Bobo was able to save money and eventually able to buy better quality of horses through the years. By her late 20s,