When Churchill Downs suspended trainer Bob Baffert through its spring 2023 meet following a positive post-race test from the Baffert-trained Medina Spirit  in the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), owners Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner faced a decision. They could stick with the beleaguered trainer or send their promising 2-year-old Corniche  elsewhere, as some Baffert owners did with other horses.

The choice was further complicated Sept. 10 when Churchill said that horses trained by a suspended trainer could not earn qualifying points on its Road to the Kentucky Derby series. This included races such as the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1). 

But the two owners, who race as Speedway Stables, never wavered, Fluor said, believing Baffert presented the best option for their ‘Plan A’ of winning the Breeders’ Cup. 

With Baffert training and fellow Hall of Famer Mike Smith riding, that plan paid off Nov. 5 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, when the colt took charge from his outside post and led throughout, defeating Pappacap  in the $2 million race by 1 3/4 lengths. 

“This race was such a big race for Corniche and what it means to him and his 2-year-old standing,” Fluor noted. “And we have said—and Bob’s doing a great job, and we have a better chance of winning this race with our friend Bob Baffert and that’s what happened. So we’re kind of enjoying (the) moment, and down the road we’ll focus on (the Derby situation) later on.”

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner is typically honored with an Eclipse Award by voters as champion 2-year-old male.

Controversy aside, Corniche put together a championship-caliber performance Saturday. With Smith hustling the Quality Road   colt out of the gate from post 11, he cleared the field in the 1 1/16-mile two-turn dirt race. He then threw down splits of :23.03, :46.15, and 1:10.81 when racing clear of rivals and had enough to spurt away from Pappacap and eventual third-place Giant Game .

Those two rivals loomed as threats leaving the second turn, with Giant Game surging outside and Pappacap coming up the inside, but Smith let out a notch on Corniche, and he kicked away down the stretch. He finished 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.50, a little slower than Echo Zulu ’s winning time in the 1:42.24 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) earlier on the card. The winner paid $4.80 as the favorite.

Corniche was nervous in the gate, but all business during the race, Smith said.

“I just sat really still. He caught a flyer leaving the gate and I just left him alone,” he said.

Smith, the winningest rider in Breeders’ Cup history, notched his 27th Breeders’ Cup victory and third in the Juvenile.

The 56-year-old was all smiles after guiding Corniche to the winner’s circle, tossing flower petals from a garland placed on Corniche into the air. He thanked Baffert and his assistant Jimmy Barnes for their support, telling them he would have retired two or three years ago without the riding opportunities they provided him.

He teamed with Baffert to win the 2018 Triple Crown on Justify  .

A start in the first leg of the Triple Crown doesn’t appear in the cards for Corniche—not if the horse stays with Baffert and Churchill’s suspension and rules are upheld.

“Well, the Derby is a long ways off, and so right now my focus was just getting here, and we’ll see how it plays out,” Baffert said.

Other 2-year-olds picked up qualifying points Saturday. Pappacap , Giant Game , and fourth-place Commandperformance  earned eight, four, and two points, respectively. Pappacap leads all 2-year-olds with 12 overall points in the series.

Baffert’s other trainees, Pinehurst  and Barossa , were in the middle or rear of the pack. The former finished in a dead-heat for fifth, the latter ninth of 11 starters. 

Baffert won his 18th Breeders’ Cup race Saturday, second-most of any trainer in the event’s history, trailing only D. Wayne Lukas with 20. Five of Baffert’s victories have come in the Juvenile.

This year Breeders’ Cup officials monitored his stable, and his horses were drug-tested leading up to the event, two conditions for his allowed participation. This action followed the trainer’s five positive drug tests over a year that culminated with the Derby when Medina Spirit showed the prohibited presence of the corticosteroid betamethasone.

Baffert ultimately attributed the betamethasone finding to an ointment used to treat a skin rash on the 3-year-old. Kentucky stewards have not yet issued a ruling following long-delayed follow-up drug testing.

Zedan Racing Stables’ Medina Spirit races in the $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Baffert said he wondered about Corniche drawing the outside post, though Smith assured him it was no problem.

It wasn’t, though his task Saturday was made easier by the scratch of the unbeaten Jack Christopher , the morning-line favorite. The Chad Brown trainee also figured to flash speed from the inside post.

“So, you know what, I felt bad for Chad Brown when I heard that because I have been in those positions, and you don’t want to see that,” Baffert said. “You see horses scratching, and it takes away from the Breeders’ Cup—these races are really hard to win.

“You have to be lucky. You have to have a good horse. There’s not a lot of margin for error.”

The breaks may have fallen his way Saturday, but Corniche has long been regarded as a top horse—so much so that he fetched $1.5 million at auction as part of de Meric Sales consignment at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Bloodstock agent Marette Farrell advised on his purchase.

“We were fortunate enough that Marette saw this horse and realized its potential and suggested it to us. So it was really a lovely deal,” said Weiner.

Bred in Kentucky by Bart Evans and Stonehaven Steadings, Corniche is out of the Najran  mare Wasted Tears . He is the second black-type horse out of his dam, a multiple graded stakes winner who excelled in routes on turf. Her first black-type performer is the stakes-placed Coffee Crush  (Medaglia d’Oro  ), who died in 2019. All six of the dam’s foals to start are winners, and she also has a Mendelssohn   yearling filly.

With victories in the Breeders’ Cup, the American Pharoah Stakes (G1), and a maiden race at Del Mar this summer, Corniche has earnings of $1,262,000. He also didn’t earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points in winning the American Pharoah.