McKinzie Back on Top in Pennsylvania Derby

This is how good it is to be Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

He can start his 2018 season off with a barn full of promising 3-year-old runners, including one of the leaders on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1). He can lose that grade 1-winning colt for the entirely of the Triple Crown campaign because of a hind-leg injury, only to have another colt provide the salve of all salves by whipping his classmates to become just the 13th horse to sweep the American classics.

He can wistfully watch as that newly minted racing demigod is retired and whisked off to the breeding shed, his career over after just six brilliant starts. He can then turn back to his original leading sophomore hopeful and have him pick up his career in even better fashion than he left off.

Before Justify  became a classic-conquering wunderkind, McKinzie was the colt his conditioner believed his peers would have to go through if they wanted to claim divisional supremacy. In his first start since being sidelined in late March, the son of Street Sense  provided a reminder as to why he began the year as Baffert's No. 1 pick when he captured the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1) Sept. 22 at Parx Racing by 1 3/4 lengths over Axelrod.

While giving Baffert his second straight Pennsylvania Derby win and third triumph in the race in the last five years, McKinzie showcased the ability that will always prompt his connections to wonder what might have been had a physical setback not prevented him from ever facing his Triple Crown-winning stablemate. His only loss from five starts came in the March 10 San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, a race in which he crossed the wire first in front of multiple grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro, only to be disqualified to second after those two made contact in the stretch.

And on a day where his grade 1-winning stablemate Collected floundered over the Parx main track in his own return off a layoff, McKinzie went about his business in routine fashion. He prompted longshot pacesetter Trigger Warning through the opening half-mile in :48.91 and took command for good at the head of the lane of the 1 1/8-mile test.

"If anything can be taken away from sting a Triple Crown horse retiring, it's a horse like this," said McKinzie's jockey, Mike Smith, who was also the regular rider for Justify. "He is an incredible horse. Really, really proud of him. To come off the bench at a mile and an eighth, Bob is just a tremendous trainer to get him ready. I felt very confident that I could be aggressive early and move a little early, because I knew (Baffert had him) ready."

Baffert's longstanding belief in McKinzie's ability is most evident by the moniker the bay colt carries. Named for Baffert's longtime friend and Los Alamitos Race Course executive Brad McKinzie, who died from renal carcinoma in August of 2017 at the age of 62, the trainer wasn't going to let just any member of his barn carry the weight of someone who meant the world to him.

Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, McKinzie lived up to his billing from his first moment in the starting gate. He broke his maiden on debut at Santa Anita Oct. 28, and graduated to top-level company next time out in the Dec. 9 Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1).

That race saw McKinzie benefit from his stablemate Solomini's misfortune, as that one was disqualified for interference, which allowed McKinzie to get elevated to the victory. When he made his seasonal debut in the Jan. 6 Sham Stakes (G3), McKinzie needed no assistance en route to a 3 1/2 length win.

"I always felt like he was the best 3-year-old, and then he got hurt and Justify picked it up," Baffert said. "He has come back with the time off and has responded really well. It was good to see him get back in the game. It was a pretty tall order to go 1 1/8 miles off that kind of layoff. But you can do it with good horses. I thought we had him pretty tight. I felt like he was the best horse. If you had asked me on January 1, I would have told you we were going to win the Kentucky Derby with that horse."

When he returned to the worktab in early August following his injury, McKinzie came back into hand in as good a fashion as Baffert could have wished for. The tactical ability that always allowed Smith to place the colt where he pleased was put to the test immediately out of post 8 Saturday, as his pilot hustled him forward and let him race third, in an outside path, around the first turn, as 81-1 shot Trigger Warning led the opening quarter-mile in :23.81.

McKinzie advanced down the backstretch past Bravazo to his inside and put himself eyeball to eyeball with Trigger Warning through the half-mile mark. Those two continued to run side by side around the far turn before McKinzie turned on his next gear and opened up by a length, as Axelrod tried to make a run at him.

Despite some tail swishing and gawking in the lane, McKinzie never let the drama build beyond that. He covered the distance in 1:52.05 to reward those who sent him off as the 2-1 favorite in the nine-horse field.

"He is still learning as well," said Smith, who is right with Baffert in living the good life, having won the Cotillion Stakes (G1) earlier on the card aboard Midnight Bisou via disqualification of divisional leader Monomoy Girl. "Although he has raced, he had a lot of time off. He got to looking around, looking at the tracks and ... I had a really good hold of him today. I didn't really want to bother anyone.

"The last time I rode him, we got disqualified, of course. I picked his head up and when I asked him to finish, he really got underneath me and really galloped out really well."

Axelrod was 7 1/2 lengths clear of Trigger Warning for second. Hofburg, the second betting choice, never threatened and finished fourth, with Core Beliefs fifth.

"He just didn't come with much of a run," said Bill Mott, trainer of Hofburg. "He broke a little slow. Too soon to make any big plans down the road."

Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Farm, McKinzie is out of the multiple graded stakes-winning Petionville mare Runway Model, who was purchased by Summer Wind for $2.7 million while in foal to Storm Cat out of the 2006 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. He was a $170,000 purchase from Lane's End's consignment to the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by his connections, who signed the ticket as Three Amigos.

Video: Pennsylvania Derby (G1)