The return effort for Barnes was OK. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will allow that.<\/p>\n
He expects things to be even better when the highly regarded 3-year-old colt takes his spot in the starting gate in Saturday\u2019s Grade 2, $400,000 Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx Racing.<\/p>\n
Last month at Saratoga Race Course, Barnes made his first start since April in the G1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial and finished third, 1 1\/2 lengths behind Patch Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he ran well; he was a little rusty,\u201d Baffert said. \u201cHe got caught in a tight spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Big things have been expected of the son of Into Mischief ever since he was purchased by Amr Zedan\u2019s Zedan Racing Stable for $3.2 million at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings.<\/p>\n
So much was thought of the colt that he was named for Baffert\u2019s longtime assistant Jimmy Barnes. Baffert has laughed that off as of late, saying the pressure of the moniker has long since passed.<\/p>\n
Barnes began his career with plenty of promise. After breaking his maiden in his only start of 2024 \u2013 at Churchill Downs last November \u2013 Baffert put Barnes in the G2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park in January, and he passed that test, winning by 5 1\/2 lengths as the even-money favorite.<\/p>\n
The next start came in another graded stakes \u2013 Santa Anita\u2019s G2 San Felipe \u2013 and he set the pace only to be caught late by the emerging star Journalism.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Barnes faced Journalism again in the G1 Santa Anita Derby on April 5 and plummeted to a last-place finish \u2013 beaten by 19 3\/4 lengths by the eventual Preakness Stakes winner.<\/p>\n
After that, he wasn\u2019t seen until the Aug. 23 Jerkens.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just went off form,\u201d Baffert said about having to give Barnes some time off. \u201cHe lost weight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baffert sent Barnes to Saratoga because he was satisfied with his progress and with how he had been working in California.<\/p>\n
The Gallant Bob is run at six furlongs. It will be the first time the colt has tried the distance. He will start from post five and has been made the 2-1 morning-line favorite. Barnes will be ridden for the first time by Tyler Gaffalione.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is really nothing for him out here,\u201d Baffert said of California. \u201cHe really is a good horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Sep 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The return effort for Barnes was OK. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will allow that. He expects…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[14351,34542,148144,148143,148142,148141,148140,129870,1071,74580,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-437259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-barnes","9":"tag-bob-baffert","10":"tag-g1-h-allen-jerkens-memorial","11":"tag-gallant-bob","12":"tag-gallant-bob-stakes","13":"tag-jimmy-barnes","14":"tag-parx-racing","15":"tag-patch-adams","16":"tag-racing","17":"tag-saratoga-race-course","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115233675301394802","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}