by Tom Law

A year removed from telling anyone who would listen that Midshipman was on the verge of a huge effort, recently inducted Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is at it again.

This time around, Baffert is touting Lookin At Lucky as his best chance among 13 entrants in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, and the Smart Strike colt clearly is the one to beat in today’s Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).

Lookin At Lucky enters the Juvenile with four victories in as many starts, including a sharp score in the Norfolk Stakes (G1) on Santa Anita Park’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface. Baffert used the Norfolk as Midshipman’s final prep for the 2008 Juvenile.

“The thing about ‘Lucky’ is that he’s really on his game right now,” Baffert said. “But you need luck; you go into it with the best horse, but you still need the trip.”

To say Baffert is confident—despite Lookin At Lucky drawing the far outside post position in the field of 13—is understandable. The roll he is on, one that saw him win with seven consecutive starters and has him atop the Oak Tree trainer standings, justifies that confidence.

“The outside post is a bummer,” Baffert said. “I was pretty disappointed with that. One thing’s for sure, Garrett Gomez is going to have to put on a Hall of Fame-type of ride to get him there. He’s going to have to have a lot of luck.”

Standing in Baffert’s way could be New York-based trainer Todd Pletcher, who will send out two steadily blossoming colts in Aikenite and Eskendereya. Aikenite was second last time out behind major Juvenile threat Noble’s Promise in the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) on Keeneland Race Course’s synthetic Polytrack surface. Eskendereya will make his first start on a synthetic surface after easily winning the off-the-turf Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park.

“He has really progressed well throughout the course of the summer with every breeze,” Pletcher said of Eskendereya, a Giant’s Causeway colt owned by Zayat Stables. “Hopefully, he’s like a lot of the Giant’s [Causeways] that like synthetic. We’re excited about getting him in the race.”

Another top contender from a trainer exuding confidence is Saratoga Special (G2) and Futurity (G2) Stakes winner D’ Funnybone.

“In my opinion, he has been the most impressive two-year-old so far this year,” trainer Rick Dutrow said on Wednesday. “Even though Baffert’s horse has won four, it didn’t look like he was winning as impressive as our horse did.”

Tom Law is managing editor of Thoroughbred Times

Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile