Belmont Stakes 2012: Bob Baffert Needs New Strategy for Triple Crown

Bob Baffert needs to read up on the definition of insanity, which, according to Albert Einstein, means "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Yahoo!'s Pat Forde was all over this immediately following Union Rags' incredible finish to win over Paynter at the Belmont Stakes:

"

Triple Crown is over. Bob Baffert horse passed in the stretch for the third time in three races. Ouch.

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) June 9, 2012"

Baffert's horses have followed the same exact strategy: Both Bodemeister and Paynter started out their respective races as if their hair was on fire, running ahead of the entire field...until the last couple of moments when their victory was snatched from before their very eyes.

Either Baffert has selected horses that don't have the staying power to win a Triple Crown race, or his strategy was flawed. One of those two reasons have caused him to fail three times in a row on horse racing's greatest stage.

From my perspective, the horses looked strong enough, but the strategy to lead from the get-go was flawed. As the old saying goes, the tortoise beats the hare. 

I won't get into speculating why Baffert's strategy has been to put his horses out in front, but I do know that the strategy needs to be scrapped going forward. Unless the horse you're racing is from the line of Shadowmere, it is always best to let some other horse do the heavy lifting for you—buffering the headwind a la the lead cars in a NASCAR race.

Baffert's horses have both clearly been incredibly fast. There is no reason to believe they couldn't have done exactly the same thing that was done to them—lay back until the final stretch and kick into the lead at the end—if they had the proper guidance. 

We'll have to wait for a while to see whether or not Baffert changes his strategy for next year's Triple Crown. Until then, I'm sure he's dreaming about what could have been.

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