It's good to be Bob Baffert.

Last weekend, the Hall of Fame trainer served noticed that he just might have the favorite for the Kentucky Derby when he sent out Dortmund to post a decisive 4-1/4-length victory in the Santa Anita Derby.

Now, during this past Saturday's final slate of Derby preps, he showed the racing world that he'll probably have the top two choices in the Run for the Roses. This time, it was Baffert's reigning 2-year-old champ American Pharoah who romped to an even more impressive victory than Dortmund. Racing in second instead of his customary spot on the lead, American Pharoah cruised to the front on the final turn and then coasted to an eight-length victory in the $1 million Arkansas Derby under only the slightest of urging from jockey Victor Espinoza.

Dortmund or American Pharoah.

American Pharoah or Dortmund.

One of them will most likely be favored at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, and the other will be second choice. Maybe they'll be co-favorites.

Either way, this eagerly awaited showdown will be all Baffert.

Trainers have approached the Derby with larger hands than the 62-year-old three-time Derby winner.

Todd Pletcher (2007 and 2013), Nick Zito (2005) and D. Wayne Lukas (1996) each started five horses in a single Derby. But to arrive in Louisville with horses good enough to be the first and second choices?

Some, if they care to rewrite history, might say it hasn't happened since 1973 when Lucien Laurin saddled Secretariat and Wood Memorial winner Angle Light. Yet, if the frame of reference is assessing horses prior to the Derby -- as opposed to afterwards -- Secretariat was coming off a third-place finish in the Wood and was viewed by some as vulnerable at a mile and a quarter after his loss at Aqueduct.

American Pharoah and Dortmund, mind you, have done nothing but win this year and between them have 10 wins in 11 career starts.

Once a hurdle as imposing Secretariat is cleared, a historian in search of a duo as formidable as Dortmund and American Pharoah would most likely have to head back to 1948 when trainer Ben Jones sent out Calumet Farm's entry of Citation and Coaltown, who were dismissed as a 2-5 favored entry.

Citation won the Derby and went on to sweep the Triple Crown. The Hall of Famer retired as the sport's all-time leading money earner. Coaltown, the other half of the entry, finished second in the Derby and developed into a Horse of the Year and a Hall of Famer.

That's legendary company for any pair of stablemates, but to even be in a conversation with horses like that speaks volumes about the hand Baffert will be playing at Churchill Downs on May 2.

They were 1-2 in the latest ESPN 3-year-old power rankings, with Dortmund owning the top spot, and American Pharoah's jaw-dropping victory could lift the Eclipse Award winner into the No. 1 spot this week.

Perhaps there will be a dead-heat in the balloting.

The only tricky part is that unlike Citation and Coaltown, Dortmund and American Pharoah have different owners. Kaleem Shah owns Dortmund, while American Pharoah carries the silks of Ahmed Zayat's Zayat Stables.

Because of those separate interests, it will be every horse for himself once the starting gates open on the first Saturday in May.

Teamwork? Forget about it.

The Arkansas Derby showed that American Pharoah, as speedy as he might be, does not have to be on the lead. Dortmund, a front-running winner of the Santa Anita Derby, has a similar style.

In a perfect world, both would allow someone else to set the pace while they stalk a few lengths behind. Yet once the starting gates open for a 20-horse cavalry charge, anything can, and usually does happen. Speedsters can wind up in a game of bumper cars and be knocked to the back of the pack, or they can become too keyed up and reel off brutal fractions.

Much can go wrong, but if all goes well, Martin Garcia on Dortmund and Espinoza on American Pharoah will be keeping an eye on each other, not wanting their stablemate to get the jump on them.

Their race within a race could pave the way for someone else to win the 141st Derby (perhaps Baffert's third possibility, Santa Anita Derby runner-up One Lucky Dane), or it could provide Baffert with a day like the one Ben Jones had in 1948 -- only Baffert will have to joyously hug one owner and then turn around, put a frown on his face, and say "sorry" to another.

It could get complicated. Yet now, with the Derby three weeks away, you can only envy the trainer. He has the two horses to beat in the Derby, and each of them is coming up to the race in picture-perfect fashion.

In the coming weeks, horses like Firing Line, who lost narrowly to Dortmund on two occasions, Carpe Diem, International Star, Materiality, Frosted, Upstart and even Dubai shipper Mubtaahij, will gather their fair share of attention as threats to win the race.

Yet in assessing their chances, they will have to be measured against not just one Baffert horse, but two of them. Not bad, eh? Not bad at all.

Yes, with Derby Day looming boldly on the horizon, it's good to be Bob Baffert.