Medina Spirit wins over the horse racing world, including his record-setting trainer

Amid a hail of torn-up tickets at Churchill Downs Saturday, the skeptics came around. The last one was the toughest.

“It was like he was telling me, ‘I’m better than you think I am,’’’ Bob Baffert said. “He was right. He is a hell of a lot better.”

Not since Mr. Ed has a horse been so perceptive.

Medina Spirit seized the lead early in the 147th Kentucky Derby and turned into the most obstinate bulldog that ever chewed a toy.

More favored horses kept attacking and Medina Spirit kept running, and at the end he held off Mandoulan and Hot Rod Charlie to win.

Baffert is his trainer. Normally he shows up in Louisville with a supergroup of horseflesh.

But Life Is Good got hurt, and Concert Tour wasn’t quite ready, and Spielberg hit the cutting-room floor. It was only Medina Spirit, sold originally for $1,000 and then to Saudi businessman Amr Zedan for $35,000.

And even though Medina Spirit had two firsts and three seconds in his previous races, and even though he wore the Baffert brand, he was a 12-1 choice.

“I’ve come in here with some heavy-duty horses and it’s more of a relief when they won,” Baffert said. “Here, I just really enjoyed myself. We were under the radar and I thought, you know, maybe we can get a piece of this.”

This might be the place to mention that Baffert has now won seven Derbys, including three of the past four, and four of the past seven, and that one of the most sacred laws in sports holds up again: Beware the champion underdog.

The seventh win breaks Baffert’s tie with Ben Jones, whose Derby winners included Whirlaway and Citation.

It was already a profitable day. Baffert’s $1.8 million filly, Gamine, won the Derby City Distaff, which gave Baffert the alltime record in Grade 1 stakes victories. Then Du Jour, owned by Baffert’s wife Jill, won the American Turf.

The Derby favorite was Essential Quality, trained by Brad Cox, who grew up two blocks from the track. Cox also trains Mandaloun, the 26-to-1 shot who was second to Medina Spirit by a half-length.

The bettors liked California invaders Rock Your World, who had beaten Medina Spirit in the Santa Anita Derby, and Hot Rod Charlie.

Baffert and jockey John Velasquez, 49 and now a four-time Derby winner, thought Medina Spirit was best served at the front.

“I was looking for the one horse that had the speed last time,” said Velasquez, referring to Rock Your World. “If I saw him and he wanted it that bad I was going to let him go. But then he wasn’t there.”

He wasn’t there because Rock Your World got slam-danced by Essential Quality and then hit by Highly Motivated, leaving the gate. Joel Rosario took him into the inside traffic and was never seen again, a loser by 24 lengths.

“It was pretty much over after the break,” Rosario said. “We got out of position.”

Essential Quality recovered but went maybe a lane too wide on a super-charged track and never made Medina Spirit aware of him. He wound up fourth.

Hot Rod Charlie did show up, but Medina Spirit just wasn’t having it. Doug O’Neill’s colt finished third, a length behind.

“Ron Anderson (Velasquez’s agent) told me that if Medina Spirit improves two points on the sheet, he could win this thing,” Baffert said. “I kept waiting for horses to pass him. I kept thinking Johnny was out of horse. Then he just stayed ahead and we got so excited. I felt pretty bad because there were some other connections around us, and we got kind of loud. Now I’m more tired than the horse is.”

Baffert was reminded of Silver Charm, his first of seven winners, in 1997. Silver Charm came within a length of winning the Triple Crown, losing to Touch Gold in the Belmont.

In 1998 Real Quiet also won the Derby and Preakness. Silver Charm’s yearling price was $16,500 and Real Quiet’s was $17,000.

“This horse doesn’t know how much he cost,” Baffert said.

Zedan, a polo aficionado and the husband of Princess Noor of Jordan, cornered Baffert in the Dubai airport last year and discussed his vision for Triple Crown glory.

“When you work with some people it’s very mechanical,” Zedan said. “When you work with Bob, you see in his gut, in his art. He’s like Michelangelo or Picasso. It’s not coincidence that Bob has done this. You see art in motion with him.”

Maybe that’s the definition of a maestro. Even when Baffert is wrong, he’s right.

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