Baffert OK with Bode's post; Indy gets 'no respect'

Zayat Stables LLC and Michel and Tiffany Moreno's Kentucky Derby morning-line

favorite Bodemeister galloped 1 1/2 miles Thursday, the morning after drawing

post 6 in the 20-horse field.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said it was a good post for the Empire Maker

colt, who soared to the top of the morning line with a runaway victory in the

Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

"Ideally, I would have liked to be outside of the heavy speed horses and I'm

inside of them, but anything but the one hole," Baffert said. "When the first

horse (stablemate Liaison) drew 20, I starting thinking, 'I hope I'm not

bookends because that means that somebody does not want me to win this race.'

When Lookin at Lucky drew the one (in 2010), you sort of lose the excitement.

The wind just came out of my sails.

"I've brought some really good horses here, and they were the best horse, but

they got beat. I don't want to get myself too pumped up. Even my son, Bode,

doesn't want to talk about it."

Baffert agreed that the 138th Kentucky Derby has a deep and talented field.

"I think it's a very competitive Derby," he said. "You watch them all train

and they all look great out there. This is one of the toughest Derbys I've been

in probably the last 10 years. It's a really competitive field."

Baffert is recovering from a heart attack he suffered in Dubai in late March.

While he is trying not to worry as much and avoid stress, he said it is

impossible to be very laid-back in the days leading up to America's biggest

race.

"To me, the Derby week is always exciting," Baffert said. "We are still on

pins and needles to keep the horses healthy, make sure everything goes well and

nothing happens. In the days leading up to it, the tires start coming off. You

just hold your breath every day when you see the horses and make sure that

nothing happens. If everything is running smooth, it's pretty smooth. Everything

has been pretty smooth, so I can't complain. Everything is good.

Arnold Zetcher's Liaison also galloped 1 1/2 miles Thursday morning. The

Indian Charlie colt is seeking his first win since taking the Grade1 CashCall

Futurity in December. He drew the outside post in the 20-horse field and is 50-1

on the morning line.

"He really tailed off form, but when he got here I gave him a chance and he

likes the track and goes over it great," Baffert said. "That's very important

here. He still has to really move his game up.

"When he drew the 20, I got a little bit disappointed, but he's the kind of

horse that it's better than if he would have gotten the one or the two or the

three. He doesn't like a lot of dirt kicked in his face, which is why he ran so

well on synthetics.

"It looks like he's going to run a big race, but it's whether he's good

enough. The way he's training, I think he's going to be competitive. That's all

you can ask for."

Three-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey Calvin Borel played the role of

exercise rider again Thursday on Chuck and Maribeth Sandford's Grade 1 Florida

Derby winner Take Charge Indy.

Typically, jockeys do not gallop horses in the morning, but Borel asked if he

could exercise the colt this week after he shipped up from Florida. Under Borel,

the A.P. Indy colt galloped 1 5/8 miles during the special time reserved for

Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks horses at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

"I actually told Calvin this morning to ride him like you own him," trainer

Pat Byrne said. "He's just too passionate about horses. You just throw him up

there and he's like jelly up there. He's a natural rider."

Chuck Sandford said Take Charge Indy is ready for the Derby and that he is

happy the colt drew post three in the field of 20. Sandford said it's just a

matter of whether the colt is good enough to win.

"We don't have any speed inside of us," Sandford said. "The horse outside of

us is Union Rags and he's not going to break with us. He's got speed but he's

not going where we're going. We'll probably be right behind Bodemeister. He's

going and he'll be right behind Trinniberg. My guess is that (Bodemeister's

trainer Bob) Baffert is going to run with him. He said he wasn't going to change

how he runs that horse. I wouldn't either.

"We were thrilled with the post. It was first out of the box. It was all

over. No pressure."

Take Charge Indy will be making his first start at Churchill Downs since

finishing fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on November 5.

"Nobody has really looked at us," Chuck Sandford said. "I had the fifth-best

two-year-old in the country last year and I lost the photo for the fourth. He's

been under the radar, we win a Grade 1 and we're still under the radar.

"He's like the Rodney Dangerfield of horses, absolutely getting no respect."

Michael Tabor, Mrs. Susan Magnier and Derrick Smith's Daddy Long Legs had a

quiet Thursday morning, the mid-point of his 48-hour quarantine period after

shipping in from Ireland just before dawn on Wednesday.

Because of quarantine restrictions the Scat Daddy colt walked the shedrow

Thursday. He is expected to go to the track at 7:30 Friday morning.

T.J. Comerford, the traveling head lad from trainer Aidan O'Brien's staff,

accompanied the colt in his journey from Europe and will saddle him Saturday.

Last year, Comerford handled Master of Hounds, who finished fifth.

Comerford said the trip through four airports was uneventful.

"He came in early yesterday morning. No problems. He ate plenty, and drank

plenty. He's in good order," Comerford said. "We got here in less than a day. We

were in a couple of airplanes and it was actually quite quick."

Daddy Long Legs, winner of the Group 2 U.A.E. Derby on March 31, went by van

from O'Brien's training center at Ballydoyle to the airport at Dublin. He flew

to London, then on to Newark International, where he changed planes for a

charter to Louisville.

"We came over the same way we came last year with Master of Hounds and he ran

well," Comerford said. "The travel is not a problem for him. He takes it all

well. It doesn't bother him."

Daddy Long Legs, a Kentucky-bred son of Scat Daddy, has won three of five

career starts, including the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket. He got

away from the gate slowly in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November at Churchill

Downs and finished 12th.

Daddy Long Legs returned to Ireland from Dubai after winning the 1 3/16-mile

U.A.E. Derby by 1 1/4 lengths and was prepared for the Kentucky Derby. He will

start from the rail in the 138th edition of the Run for the Roses.

"The plan was always to come here, so he's trained for it," Comerford said.

"We're here now and just hope for the best.

"I know the draw is probably not ideal, as people say. We can't change that,

for sure. We'll do our best from one."

Comerford said that Daddy Long Legs is a better in the starting gate than he

was during his juvenile season.

"He's a year older and he was quick away in Dubai," Comerford said. "We did

plenty with him for Dubai and he was smart away there. I don't know if he's

smart enough for the American way, but he's definitely a lot better. He's come

on a lot. We just take it as we go. He was quick away in Dubai and if he's as

quick away here it should be OK."

Jockey Colm O'Donoghue will make his Kentucky Derby debut aboard Daddy Long

Legs.