Game Winner a Possibility for Belmont Stakes

Trainer Bob Baffert said he hasn't "closed the door" on the possibility of starting Gary and Mary West's 2-year-old champion Game Winner in the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.

Game Winner was moved up to fifth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) after Jason Servis-trained Maximum Security, also owned by the Wests, was disqualified from first to 17th for interference. The Candy Ride  colt came out of the race with a stiff back and lost about a week of training while Gary West sought advice from Dr. Larry Bramlage about the 3-year-old's condition.

"Game Winner is back at the track now. He looks good. He was a little roughed up or he would have been great in the Preakness," Baffert said. "I lost a week of training with him to check him and make sure he was OK. A great thing about Gary and Mary is that the horse comes first for them. He tells me to train them like I own them."

Baffert, who will be at Pimlico Race Course to saddle Improbable for the May 18 Preakness Stakes (G1), said he will check in on Game Winner at Churchill Downs May 20 before returning to California and should have a better handle on future plans for him after that.

"I haven't closed the door on (the Belmont Stakes)," Baffert said about the 1 1/2-mile final leg of the Triple Crown. "We're going to let the horse show me."

Game Winner was bought by agent Ben Glass on behalf of the Wests for $110,000 from the Lane's End consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Equine, the son of the A.P. Indy mare Indyan Giving has won four of seven starts, with 2018 grade 1 wins in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile, American Pharoah Stakes, and Del Mar Futurity. His career earnings total $1,936,000.