We've always known Bob Baffert is a character.
He was at it again at the press conference after he won the world's richest race, the $US6 million with favourite Captain Steve.
Asked to comment on American jockey Jerry Bailey having Captain Steve a fair way off the pace on a dirt track,
which almost always suits on-speed runners, white-haired Baffert said: "My hair was turning black down the back straight."
But the jesting masked a serious mind. Baffert is one of racing's deepest thinkers. After a career in quarter horse training he took up preparing thoroughbreds in 1979 and is the first trainer to prepare the winners of the first two legs of the American Triple Crown in successive years with Real Quiet and Silver Charm.
Silver Charm went on to win the Dubai Cup and Baffert has won 11 Breeders Cup races.
Former NBA player Michael Pegram supported Baffert's switch in training codes and has a reputation for picking relatively cheap good horses.
Silver Charm cost only $US17,000 and Captain Steve $US70,000.
Captain Steve had to be brave to win. The Japanese runner To The Victory pinched a break on the field around the home turn and looked the winner halfway down the fearsomely long Dubai home straight.
But Bailey had timed his run to perfection and Captain Steve landed a three-length winning margin.
The expected match race between Captain Steve and Godolphin's Best Of The Best did not eventuate. Best Of The Best finished a dismal eighth.
