Baffert has American Pharoah on brink of Triple Crown - San Jose Mercury News
-- Bob Baffert came blasting into thoroughbred racing in Southern California talking smack. It wasn't long before he piled up 11 wins in Triple Crown races -- two behind leader D. Wayne Lukas -- and ditched his big hat but kept the boots. But after a heart attack and the death of close family members, the 62-year-old Baffert has finally grown into the premature cap of white hair that has been his trademark for years. "When you start out, you're hungry and you're ambitious. Ambitious can give you an edge that people don't like," said Baffert, who will try for the first Triple Crown since 1978 when American Pharoah runs in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Winning back-to-back Kentucky Derbies with horses that had shots at winning the Triple Crown in 1997 and 1998 will turn someone's head. He won a third Derby in 2002 before War Emblem stumbled out of the starting gate at the Belmont and lost his Triple try. Then life kicked Baffert in the behind. His mother died in 2011, and he survived a heart attack in Dubai and the death of his father within a six-month span the following year. The heart attack prompted diet and lifestyle changes (cheeseburgers were out and chicken was in), but losing his parents was life-changing. Source: www.mercurynews.com
