Why Bob Baffert won't be at Kentucky Derby 2nd year in a row

Fox News national correspondent Alex Hogan reports on the lead up to the 153rd Running of Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown

The Kentucky Derby is a tradition that's never been canceled.

Postponed once by World War II and again by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, America's greatest race has rolled on since 1875.

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At Churchill Downs on Saturday, 20 horses will compete to wear the garland of red roses in the 149th edition. But the race will again be without the sport's best known and hugely successful figure for nearly three decades.

Bob Baffert trained American Pharoah to the first Triple Crown sweep in 37 years in 2015. He repeated the feat with Justify in 2018. In all, the white-haired trainer has won 16 Triple Crown races. Yet Baffert is still serving a two-year suspension from Churchill Downs.

"I've just moved on," the 70-year-old Hall of Fame trainer told The Associated Press recently, declining to elaborate.

His reverence for the Derby is obvious: "There's no more exciting moment when you have a horse that has a chance to win the Derby," he said, having officially won it a record-tying six times.

Baffert will sit out for a second straight year. Read on to find out why.

WHY IS BAFFERT STILL BANNED FROM THE DERBY?

FILE - In this May 1, 2019, file photo, trainer Bob Baffert watches his Kentucky Derby entrant Game Winner during a workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Baffert won't be saddling any horses in the Kentucky Derby this weekend. The winner of a record-tying six Derbies will miss the race for the second straight year while completing a two-year suspension issued by Churchill Downs Inc. (AP