Jimmy Barnes, the assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, wasn’t worried about three of the barn’s big guns—National Treasure , Arabian Lion and Fort Bragg —making the cross country trek from California to upstate New York.
Not one bit.
“I wasn’t concerned about the ship at all,” Barnes said on the Saratoga backstretch Aug. 24. “We do it all the time. Basically, I live off the plane. If we haven’t learned to do it by now…”
The three horses arrived in town Aug. 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET after flying via FedEx from San Diego. The flight ended in Newark, N.J., and then the horses were vanned to Saratoga Race Course.
National Treasure, winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1), is running in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes Aug. 26 while Arabian Lion and Fort Bragg are pointing to the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) the same day.
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Barnes said all three horses got their first looks at Saratoga Aug. 23 and they all galloped Aug. 24.
“We had missed a few days (in California) because of the hurricane,” Barnes said. “They had worked on Friday (Fort Bragg and Arabian Lion) and Saturday (National Treasure) and walked for two days.”
National Treasure is 8-1 on the Travers morning line set by David Aragona. Arabian Lion is the 2-1 morning line favorite in the Jerkens and Fort Bragg is the 5-2 co-second choice.
“The ship is not going to be a factor,” Barnes said. “We deal with the traffic (coming up from New Jersey) so it is what it is. The horses we sent have traveled quite a bit. We have the choice to come; the other choice is to not come.”
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