With time running out on his chances to run for the roses, Santa Anita Derby runner-up Baeza slipped into the Kentucky Derby field on Thursday with the scratch of the Bob Baffert-trained Rodriguez
The field for the 2025 Kentucky Derby got a big shakeup on Thursday afternoon when one major contender had to pull out of the race, allowing another major contender to get in.
Rodriguez, who is trained by six-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert, had to be scratched from Saturday’s race because of a minor foot bruise. The speed colt was coming off a gate-to-wire win in the Wood Memorial on April 5 and was the co-fourth choice on the Kentucky Derby morning line at 12-1.
The defection of Rodriguez made room in the 20-horse Derby field for Santa Anita Derby runner-up Baeza. A $1.2 million purchase two years ago, Baeza needed one horse to come out of the race before the deadline of 9 a.m. ET Friday. The connections of the horse had been on pins and needles for weeks wondering if the talented but lightly raced colt would get to race in the first leg of the Triple Crown. They got the answer on Thursday.
After receiving the news, CRK Stables, the owner of Baeza, sent out the following message on social media: “As we’ve said all week, this isn’t the ideal way to get into the Derby and our thoughts are with the Rodriguez team, and yet we’re here and ready to give it our best shot. Kentucky Derby here we come!”
Now that he’s in the field, Baeza is among the favorites, the co-fourth choice on the morning line at 12-1. He is coming off an impressive second-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby, losing by less than a length to Journalism, the 3-1 Derby favorite. Get full Kentucky Derby analysis and expert picks at SportsLine.
Baeza’s career-high 101 Beyer Speed Figure is second only to Journalism’s career high (108) among the Derby horses. And Baeza is bred to be a classic winner. His half-brother Mage won the Kentucky Derby two years ago, and another half-brother, Dornoch, won the Belmont and Haskell Stakes last year.
Rodriguez entered the week as Baffert’s best chance to win a record-breaking seventh Kentucky Derby in his return to the race. The trainer has missed the last three Derbies while serving a three-year suspension handed down by Churchill Downs after his Medina Spirit failed a postrace exam after crossing the finish line first in the 2021 Derby. Baffert still has Citizen Bull, a 20-1 longshot, in the field.
Baffert said Thursday that Rodriguez’s foot bruise is minor and that he will target to run in the Preakness Stakes on May 17.
“You have to be perfect,” Baffert told FanDuel TV about the decision to scratch Rodriguez. “If you’re going to win the Derby, you’ve gotta be 100% perfect. We’ll just point to the Preakness with him.”
