McKinzie was among the brightest stars at the season preps with the Kentucky Derby of this year although three wins in four starts, but ended up missing Also the and the entire Triple Crown season
Marquee summer races following a hind leg injury in the spring.
While his stablemate carried the banner for Hall of Fame coach Bob Baffert and went on to become the 13 th winner of this Triple Crown, McKinzie sat on the sidelines,
But he’s now prepared to restart top 3-year-old’s part from the Baffert barn that Justify is retired.
He made a powerful case for that when he won the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 22 by 1 3/4 lengths in his first race in six months.
“If anything could be taken away out of a sting of a Triple Crown horse retiring, it’s a horse in this way,” said jockey Mike Smith, who rode Justify, following the Pennsylvania Derby. “He is an
Extraordinary horse. Truly proud of him. Bob [trainer Bob Baffert] had him prepared. To come off the seat at a mile and an eighth, Bob is a trainer that is tremendous. I felt quite confident that I might be competitive early and proceed a little early.”
“He was training really well,” Baffert added after the race. “I always felt as though he had been the best 3-year-old and he got hurt and Justify picked it up. He has come back with the time off and has responded well. It was good to see him return into the game. It was a tall order to go 1??1/8 miles away that kind of layoff. However, it is possible to do it with horses. I thought we had him tight. I thought we had him tight I felt like he was the best horse. If you’d asked me on January 1, I would have told you we were going to win the Kentucky Derby with this horse.”
A $170,000 purchase at Keeneland’s 2016 September Sale, the colt, was appointed a executive in Los Alamitos Race Course that, for Baffert friend, the Brad McKinzie Expired is August 2017.
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