UA Ties Still Strong for Triple Crown Winner Baffert
From the children's area in the south end zone of Arizona Stadium to the pinnacle of horse racing, the ride has surpassed the legendary trainer's wildest dreams.

Arizona Athletics
Nov. 16, 2015

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The scene after UA alumnus Bob Baffert's horse, American Pharoah, won the Belmont Stakes — and the Triple Crown — won't soon be forgotten.
The scene after UA alumnus Bob Baffert's horse, American Pharoah, won the Belmont Stakes — and the Triple Crown — won't soon be forgotten. (Photo: Horsephotos.com)


Before he was the most renowned horse trainer in the world with a Triple Crown to his credit, Bob Baffert was a fixture at Arizona Stadium.

From the time he was 10, Baffert, a Nogales native, used to regularly make the hourlong trek north to Tucson to cheer on the Arizona Wildcats. With some mix of his six siblings, Baffert would station himself in the "Knothole," a children's area in the south end zone of the stadium.

He frantically cheered on the Wildcats, elated by the wins and crushed by the losses — a requirement for anyone with the last name Baffert.

"Every one of the seven kids, we all went to the University of Arizona," Baffert said last week. "I remember going to games and having a blast cheering those guys on. Arizona sports was just in our blood.”

It still is. On Saturday, nearly the entire Baffert family returned to Arizona Stadium to watch as Bob was honored by Arizona Athletics for leading American Pharoah to the Triple Crown earlier this year. Public recognition of Baffert at the Arizona-Utah football game came during the first quarter.

"It’s too bad my parents aren’t alive, because they would have loved this," Baffert said. "The fact that training horses has put me in this position is unbelievable. I used to sit in the kiddie corner and here I am now getting honored in front of a stadium full of people. To be honored like that is something special."

Baffert’s longstanding relationship with Arizona goes far beyond the Knothole. The trainer attended the UA, studying in the Race Track Industry Program, and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He used to wake up at dawn to stand in line to secure tickets to basketball games at Bear Down Gym.

Once he graduated and started making his bones in the horse racing world, Baffert developed relationships with coaches Lute Olson, Sean Miller and Rich Rodriguez and athletic director Greg Byrne.

He gets showered with "Bear Down" greetings as he makes his way around racetracks around the world and has plenty of cardinal and navy in his closet.

"When I think back about my time at the University of Arizona, I think about the best times of my life," Baffert said. "I don’t tell my kids this if I don’t have to, but I think it took me about six years to get through school because I was having so much fun. It’s such a great place, such a beautiful campus. I have so many great memories at Arizona. I met so many great people there."

Baffert developed such a rapport with Olson, he eventually named a horse Midnight Lute after the legendary basketball coach. He also spoke to the coach minutes after American Pharoah won the Breeders’ Cup last month.

"He was one of the only calls I picked up right after the race," Baffert said. "He’s one of the greatest basketball coaches ever and just a great guy. Midnight Lute is one of the top five horses I’ve ever trained. There was some pressure with that because when you name a horse after a legend, you better make sure it’s a good horse."

Baffert also has trained Candrea, named for longtime Wildcats softball coach Mike Candrea, and Lady Regina, named for Byrne’s wife, Regina.

The Byrnes traveled to California last year to join Baffert and watch Lady Regina finish second in a race.

"When I came to the U of A, one of the people I was most excited to get to spend some more time with at some point was Bob Baffert," Byrne said. "Any institution strives to have world-class alums. It’s a wonderful representation for the University of Arizona to have Bob Baffert be an alum and be the best in the world in what he does. It’s a great reflection on our university."

Baffert’s trip to the UA was his second this football season. He served as the celebrity guest picker on ESPN’s "College GameDay" when the show originated from Tucson on the morning of the UCLA game. He wore a red Arizona jersey that Byrne had personalized for him and was adored by the Arizona fans who had gathered for the show.

"I felt like a rock star coming in there," Baffert said. "Everyone was so great to me. It was a lot of fun on the set. Lee Corso asked me where my notes were. I said, ‘Notes? I’m a horse trainer. I don’t have notes.’ It was really fun."

Quite a year, right?

"The thing is, I’ve always been so close — the Triple Crown was the only thing missing," Baffert said. "American Pharoah came at a special time. I’ve never seen a horse like him before. I was privileged to have him in my barn. When I took him to the Breeders’ Cup, I had the weight of the entire racing industry on my shoulders. It felt so great when he turned for home."

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