Bob Baffert

A native of Nogales, Ariz., Bob Baffert grew up loving horses and graduated from the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program. After climbing to the top of the Quarter Horse racing world, where he trained four champions, Baffert began the transition to Thoroughbred racing in the late 1980s.

Baffert completed the move in 1991 when he gave up his Quarter Horse division and within a few years was one of the most successful trainers in Thoroughbred racing.

In 2015 he became the first trainer in 37 years to condition a Triple Crown winner when his American Pharoah tallied victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. In all, Baffert has 12 victories in Triple Crown races: four Kentucky Derbys, six Preaknesses and two Belmonts. American Pharoah was the fourth Baffert trainee to move on to the Belmont Stakes with a shot at the Triple Crown following Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002).

Baffert finished second in all three Triple Crown races in 2012 with Bodemeister and Paynter. In 2014, Baffert trained classic hopeful Bayern, went on to win the Breeders' Cup Classic and was a Horse of the Year finalist. Baffert backed that up with a win by American Pharoah in the 2015 Classic.

He has won the Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer four times, most recently in 2015, has developed 11 horses that have won 15 Eclipse Awards as division champions, and was the national leader in purse earnings four consecutive years, 1998-2001. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2009, and three of his stars, Silver Charm, Silverbulletday and Point Given, have been inducted, too.

In 2016, Baffert picked up his 13th Breeders' Cup win with Drefong, who took the Sentient Jet Sprint for new owner Charles Chu, before winning the Breeders' Cup Classic for the third straight year when Arrogate outfinished champion California Chrome to win the $6 million. With 14 career Breeders' Cup wins, Baffert trails only D. Wayne Lukas (20).

Arrogate continued his brilliance in 2017, winning the $12 million Pegasus World Cup and then the $10 million Dubai World Cup for Baffert in impressive fashion to become highest-earning North American Thoroughbred of all time with more than $17 million in earnings. Baffert also won the Kentucky Oaks in 2017 with Abel Tasman.