Bob Baffert has been having a pretty stressful time this horse racing season. Even though everyone was looking forward to his comeback in the Winner’s Circle at Churchill Downs, fate had other plans. He had two horses in the Kentucky Derby, but at the last moment, his best horse, Rodriguez, got scratched due to a foot injury. During the wet and sloppy race at Churchill Downs, his other horse, Citizen Bull, led for some time, but the colt just couldn’t hold on in the final stretch and fell back from the front runners.

The 72-year-old trainer faced a similar situation in the Preakness Stakes, as Rodriguez wasn’t recovered enough for the second jewel of the Triple Crown, and ended up being moved to the Belmont Stakes instead. So, Goal Oriented, who was unbeaten before Preakness, faced his first loss at Pimlico, finishing fourth in the race while Journalism snagged the win. With only one race left in the American Triple Crown, Baffert is gearing up for the Belmont Stakes. But, in the midst of all this tension, there was some good news for the horse trainer.

At the 2025 Santa Margarita Stakes held at Santa Anita Park, trainer Bob Baffert pulled off an impressive one-two finish with Seismic Beauty and his other horse, Splendora. Seismic Beauty, a 4-year-old filly owned by MyRacehorse and Peter Leidel, really shined in her stakes debut, taking the lead right from the start and holding onto it all the way to the finish line. With jockey Antonio Fresu on board, she got off to a fast start and kept her lead, finishing strong to win by five lengths ahead of Splendora. Seismic Beauty just scored her third win in six career starts, bringing her total earnings up to $236,840.

In an interview with Kurt Hoover from FanDuel Racing, the trainer said, “Yeah, you know, I always thought she could go long, and her last race, you know, she proved that she was a really nice horse. Today, you know, I just put her in the lead. She’s a big Uncle Mo filly that covers a lot of ground, and, you know, proud of my other, the other filly was trying to get to her, but, you know, she’s getting better. We gave her all that time to grow up and just happy, you know, a lot of patience from the owners and stuff, but I think she’s just going to get better and better as we go along.”

Seismic Beauty’s impressive, start-to-finish victory really highlighted her skills and also showed how Baffert has been smart about her training and growth. Her performance in the Santa Margarita Stakes really hints that she could be a solid contender in the big races coming up. It seems like Baffert is all in on the upcoming Belmont Stakes, and his horse is already geared up for the action.

The key to securing a G1 win for Bob Baffert?

With the Belmont Stakes coming up, there’s some big news about one of Bob Baffert’s horses that fans are eager to hear about for the G1 event. Co-owner Tom Ryan shared, “Lovely work from Rodriguez this morning at Santa Anita in 1:24.4 – Happy horse, extended nicely – he’s ready for a trip to Saratoga.” Rodriguez wrapped up a fantastic six furlongs in 1:24.4, and it really caught the eye of his co-owner.

According to Ryan, this time is amazing. It really shows that Rodriguez is in great shape and ready for his upcoming race at Saratoga. It’s about time he showed up. So, the last time anyone spotted Rodriguez running was during the G2 Wood Memorial Stakes, where he took home the win and snagged some important points for the Kentucky Derby.

And barring any extraordinary circumstances, Rodriguez is lock for the Belmont Stakes. “Looked good, so we’ll see how he comes out of the work,” Baffert said after the drill speaking to Daily Racing Form’s David Grening. “but from what I saw today he’s definitely coming to the Belmont unless something drastically changes.”

As we get closer to the Belmont Stakes, it’s clear that after everything the colt has been through, he seems strong enough to take on the challenge.