Paynter gets paid off by the gradual progress as he brought the connections the Haskell Invitational
The three-year-old Awesome Again’s bay colt, Paynter, is one of those exceptional cases who have not raced as a juvenile at all. Trainer, Bob Baffert, started the campaign for the bay colt just during this season.
The three-year-old did not make the connections wait any longer to pick out future options for him as he cleared his maiden special weight on 18th February, 2012 at Santa Anita over 5 ½ furlongs. Paynter raced through the track in a minute and :02.98 seconds.
The Zayat Stables, LLC owned held a straight entry in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita over 1 1/8 miles. The step up in the distance and the class might not have suited the bay colt as much as the connections must have anticipated.
The Kentucky bred yet again proved his potential by ending third in the Grade 3 Derby Trials at Churchill Downs on 28th April, 2012 over a mile.
Winning an allowance race on 19th May, 2012 got the stable mate of Bodemeister a second career entry in a graded race. The bay colt out of, Tizso, qualified as the runner-up of the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes on 9th June, 2012 at the Belmont Park. The race was won by Union Rags as I’ll Have Another was withdrawn at the dawn of the race.
His landmark achievement in the very first season of his career was to bring back the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational to the trainer, Bob Baffert, who has now won it for a straight third time and otherwise on a sixth occasion.
The forty-fifth edition of the race saw the rider, R. Bejarano, racing for a second time at the Monmouth Park while the ride was to race through an unusual style. The duo was set in the rear for the opening five-eighths of the mile which were invaded by Gemologist. However, the three-year-old burst out with the reserved energy by grinding in on the distance and winning by the margin on 3 ¾ lengths, enticing the 35,253 audience present at the park.
"He's been in Bodemeister's shadow his whole career and look how he responded today," said Justin Zayat of Zayat Stables, which owns both horses. "We really wanted to win this race".
"This was unbelievable," Barnes said. "Rafael rode him brilliantly. It was wonderful for us. I didn't want him to get buried inside, but Rafael got him to a comfortable spot. He saw what was developing and with a little bit of urging, he made it look easy. We knew it was over."
The team effort got the title home for a sixth time and proved how incredible Bob Baffert really is as not only Bodemeister, but Paynter too has turned out tremendously.
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