If horse racing were more Hollywood, it would have turned today's Santa Anita Derby into a sitcom. There'd be billboards, TV ads, people twittering.
It would be called the "Julio and Bob Show." Get your tickets now. Come and laugh. There will even be some racing.
Of course, Bob Baffert would say it should be the "Bob and Julio Show," and Julio Canani would want the title translated into his native tongue, which is Spanish/Portuguese/Mandarin and Swiss German, with a touch of dialect from Mars.
Baffert and Canani train the two prominent horses for today's $750,000 Kentucky Derby prep race. Baffert's is Pioneerof The Nile, who has won his last three races, four of seven overall, and tends to get in front and gaze around at the flower pots. Canani's is The Pamplemousse, who has also won his last three, three of five overall, and tends to get the lead and dislike giving it up.
The Pamplemousse is the slight morning-line favorite at 9-5, with Pioneerof The Nile at 2-1.
But enough about the horses, who, if they could talk, would be rolling their eyes and giggling over the two guys who train them.
Baffert is 56, looks 46 despite his head of snow-white hair, and is a veteran of all this Triple Crown stuff. He's won the Kentucky Derby three times, plus five other Triple Crown races, and has been a player in the Derby almost every year since 1996. Canani is listed as 70, will tell you 71 or 72, depending on the day -- "I spent four years in one grade in school," he says -- and while a successful trainer of older horses with three Breeders' Cup titles, is a newcomer to this annual circus for 3-year-olds.
"I'm an old story. They'll just Google me," Baffert says. "But Julio? He's a new deal."
Barring something bad happening, both will make their way to Churchill Downs on May 2, and both of their horses will be among the favorites.
Baffert says he's excited already, says he's getting some weight off so he can fit into his best suits for the big show. As he talks, he pinches his cheeks to seek out any excess rolls and wrinkles. "You forget what it feels like there," he says.
Canani calls the race the Kentucky Fried Chicken, and when Baffert talks about how much the media at Churchill Downs are going to love the Peruvian native and his story, Canani says, "They got to find me first."
