After yet another cross-country airplane ride, Bayern showed
the racing fans in the east that his front-running style is very hard to beat.
The Bob Baffert trainee immediately went to the lead on a Parx racing surface
that had been kind to speed horses all day long. Bayern stayed right there in
front for the entire track record breaking nine furlongs as the $1,000,000 Pennsylvania Derby became
the fifth win of his career.
California Chrome was made the .90-1 betting favorite in his
first race back after finishing fourth in the Belmont Stakes and Bayern was the
7-2 second choice.
As soon as the starting gate opened everything went
perfectly for Bayern. Jockey Martin Garcia was able to set an easy uncontested
pace with moderate early fractions of :24.07, :47.89, and 1:10.88. Garcia
described the trip, “Everybody knows that this horse is a really good horse and
that he likes to be on the lead and that’s how the race came out. He broke
really sharp and he took me to the lead. I went an easy pace and when I asked
him to go, he took off.”
On the other hand, the race did not play out very well for
the fan favorite California Chrome. After breaking well from the one post-position, Chrome was bottled up on the rail while running in third. Jockey Victor
Espinoza knew that the race was not playing well for his horse, "The other
riders, they worried about me, they didn't worry about the one in the front
[winner Bayern], and I knew I was in troubled in the first turn. They were like
blocking in front of me, and it was hard to catch the other horse. Sometimes
the other ones don't ride to win, they ride to beat horses. But, I really
didn't abuse him too much today. I just let him run his race. I didn't want to
override him. He had a long time off. This race, it set it up for the next one.”
California Chrome ended up finishing sixth in the field of eight.
Espinoza added, "I was really desperate and behind, but there was nothing
I could do at that point. I mean, to see those fractions, and they're walking,
and I knew I was in trouble as soon as I hit the first turn. Sometimes, it's
out of my hands, and we'll go for the next one."
A month earlier Bayern had finished a very badly beaten tenth in
the Travers. Owner Kaleem Shah talked about the decision to run in the
Pennsylvania Derby, “The choice was basically the way he worked. Coming
to this race, the two works he put in were sensational. The Travers was a
head-scratcher. Bob [trainer Baffert] said he did not like the track. Today he
showed what he can do.”
Bayern upped his career record to 9: 5-1-1 with earnings of
$1,639,680. Three of those wins were in graded stakes races in the eastern part
of the country. Each of those victories involved a round trip cross-country
plane flight.
Baffert Assistant Trainer Jimmy Barnes tooked about his
frequent flyer, “It takes a well-mannered horse. He has a very good mind on
him. He handles shipping very well. That really helps. You don’t want a nervous
horse when you are shipping back and forth across the country. It doesn’t seem
to bother him at all.”
Once Barnes and Bayern arrived at Parx everything went their
way, “The first day he went to the track, Wednesday, I just loved the way he
went over the track. He went over this track so good, it was just incredible.
He ran the way I expected him to run.”
In the end, Bayern’s margin of victory was 5¾ lengths over Tapiture and Candy Boy and the final time of 1:46.96 for the track record. Bayern paid $9.00, $3.60, and $4.00. The show price was due to California Chrome finishing out of the money. The all-source handle at Parx was $10,396,671, which was a remarkable 88% increase over the track’s previous high.
