Power Broker gives Baffert third Indiana Derby

Martin Garcia deftly guided Power Broker over a sloppy Indiana Downs surface to a 1 3/4-length win in the $500,000 Indiana Derby (G2) on Saturday evening (VIDEO).

The victory gave Power Broker’s trainer Bob Baffert a record third win in the race. His previous two wins came with Misremembered (2009) and Lookin at Lucky (2010), when the race was run at Hoosier Park.

Garcia was close up, but found himself on the rail around the first turn and into the backstretch. The field began to string out, and Garcia took the opportunity to move to the center of the track. Pacesetter Bradester drifteed into Power Broker’s path in upper stretch, but Garcia regathered his mount to go on to earn the win.

“I was having visions of (the Indiana Oaks, run the race before, when Baffert’s Fiftyshadesofhay was pinned on the rail),” Jim Barnes, long-time assistant to Baffert, said of seeing Power Broker briefly stuck on the fence. “Martin basically won the race at the 6 1/2 (furlong pole), getting him off the rail. He rode him with a lot of confidence.”

Owned by Gary and Mary West, Power Broker won for the fourth time in 10 starts. He won the $150,000 Easy Goer S.at Belmont S. in June and finished second to Verrazano in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational in August. He also won the Grade 1 Frontrunner S. at Santa Anita Park as a 2-year-old.