Bob Baffert was not talking about Triple Crown winner Justify. No, the Hall of Fame trainer was talking about McKinzie, moments after the three-year-old colt returned from six-month layoff to win the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx September 22nd.

As Justify began to settle in at Ashford Stud in Lexington, Kentucky, McKinzie dutifully picked up the baton and kept Baffert on the road to the Breeders’ Cup Classic with a facile win against eight rivals in the nine-furlong stakes. Sent off the favorite, the three-year-old son of Street Sense found a comfortable stalking spot under Mike Smith and powered home over longshots Axelrod and Trigger Warning. Second choice Hofburg failed to menace and wound up fourth.

Owned by longtime Baffert loyalists, Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman, McKinzie won three of his first four starts (one win through disqualification and his only loss through disqualification) before missing all the spring and summer dances.

Baffert primed the bay colt with four consecutive seven-furlong drills at Del Mar and Santa Anita, delivering a fit and fresh colt who could lead the division by season’s end.

“He had been training really well,” Baffert said. “I always felt like he was the best three-year-old and then he got hurt and Justify picked it up. 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.”

Yes, it takes good horses. And Baffert has loads of them. Justify flashed onto the scene in mid-February, winning a maiden impressively. McKinzie made his fourth career start in the San Felipe March 10th, winning but being disqualified for bumping Bolt d’Oro (wow, remember Bolt d’Oro?).

Their paths took divergent routes after that, Justify ran the table and retired while McKinzie went to the bench with a hock injury.

Smith, aboard for all five of McKinzie’s starts and aboard Justify through the Triple Crown scourge, said it best.

“If anything can take away the sting of a Triple Crown horse retiring, it’s a horse like this,” Smith said. “He is an incredible horse.”

Dramatic conclusion to keenly-contested Cotillion

TWO incredible horses squared off in the Cotillion, the appetizer to the Pennsylvania Derby.

Unfortunately, the two fillies wound up in a melee rather than a masterpiece.

Leading three-year-old filly, Monomoy Girl, led Midnight Bisou, arguably the second best three-year-old filly in the country, into the stretch of the $1 million stakes. That’s when it got dicey.

Smith angled Midnight Bisou inside for a late run and Florent Geroux guided Monomoy Girl inside. Smith swapped courses and aimed outside, Geroux allowed (or steered) Monomoy Girl out.

By the time the fillies reached the wire, they were closer to the hot-dog stand than the inside rail with Monomoy Girl a neck ahead of Midnight Bisou.

Smith claimed foul. Stewards changed the order. Arguments ensued.

Either way, Midnight Bisou exacted some revenge on Monomoy Girl, who finished ahead of Midnight Bisou for the third time in three clashes. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the daughter of Midnight Lute snapped a three-race losing streak and tacked on her fifth career stakes win and second Grade 1 stakes victory for Bloom Racing, Madaket Stable and Allen Racing.

“I’ve been on both ends of it and you hate to have anything happen like that, she is just a brilliant filly but my mare deserves a fair chance and I don’t think she got one,” Smiths said.

“I went ahead and went in because everybody was going out, I was going straight as an arrow to stay in my path but she choose to come over and take it from me so I choose the outer route and probably would not have been a DQ if (Geroux) would have stayed straight at that point but he came out again and we wound up in the eight-ninth path.

“I never got a straight run and we got beat only by a head. You got to do what you got to do.”

Either way, Midnight Bisou and Monomoy Girl raised their games yet again, finishing 10 lengths ahead of Wonder Gadot, winner of the Queen’s Plate and last-place finisher in the Travers back in August.

The Breeders’ Cup Distaff looms.