All Equine All The Time

Bayern in 2015 Making his mark on the 3-year-old division in 2014, Bayern (Offlee Wild) won from seven furlongs to 1 ¼ miles during his career with graded stakes victories coming at four different distances. The son of Offlee Wild made his debut on Jan. 4, 2014 by 3 ¼ lengths at Santa Anita and followed that up with a 15 length victory in an allowance a little over a month later. His first loss came in the Arkansas Derby in April, his first attempt at stretching past a mile, but the ridgling didn’t disgrace himself when finishing third. Three starts later he got his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens when winning by 7 1/2 lengths and followed that up with a Grade 1 victory in the Haskell Invitational to give trainer Bob Baffert his seventh victory in the race. After a bad run in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, Bayern faced a tough field of 3 - year -o lds including dual-classic winner California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby. O...

2014 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern After Bayern put in another disappointing run on Sept. 26 in the Awesome Again Stakes, the colt was retired to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm early in the week to prepare for the 2016 breeding season. One of 19 Breeders’ Cup Classic winners to return to the track the following year, Bayern’s record of two thirds in five starts is probably most similar to Wild Again, who raced four times after his victory in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup. However, while Bayern raced in graded stakes all year, Wild Again only made one stakes start after his Classic victory, retiring with a second in the Grade 1 Meadowlands Cup. Overall, Breeders’ Cup Classic winners have combined for 33 wins in 103 post-victory starts for a 33 percent strike rate. While you expect a Classic winner to be a classy runner even if they have lost a step post-Classic, those 19 Classic winners also combined to have 41 second or third-place finishes in addition to the 33 wins for 74...