• Bob's profile

  • By Claire Novak | July 12, 2010 4:38:40 PM PDT
DEL MAR, Calif. -- First he was hip; now he's hipper. Just in time for the 2010 summer season at Del Mar, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has joined more than 120 million people on Facebook. "I just opened up the floodgates," said Baffert, known for his shock of white hair and his irreverent personification of California cool. "My 16-year-old daughter, Savannah, was sitting here, and we were playing around with it; now I have, like, 60 people who have sent me friend requests." Baffert's personality shines through in his new profile. In the space below his profile picture, he wrote, "I'm not happy unless I know I have the fastest horse." For biographical information, he listed three simple words: "never been arrested." And under activities, he ranked his favorite as "play Wii with Bode," a reference to the 5-year-old son he named after skier Bode Miller, an Olympic gold medalist. Baffert is not alone in his Facebook adventure. The social networking site connects hundreds of figures in the thoroughbred industry, from high-profile owners to exercise riders and grooms. Baffert joins fellow conditioner Dan Hendricks, jockey Pat Day, owner Samantha Siegel and others, including wife Jill Baffert, a longtime Facebook member whom he amusingly listed as his employer on his new page. But the 57-year-old horseman will have to squeeze in time for interaction between training hours, and with a busy summer coming up, you're not likely to find him loitering in your "online" column all day. "I'll probably let it ride for a week and then I'll take it down," he said. "I found my old high school girlfriend." Always armed with a strong contingent for Del Mar, which opens July 21, Baffert also will send horses east in the next few weeks. Leading the charge will be 2009 Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky, who targets the Aug. 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Baffert is pleased with the way the 3-year-old colt has been training since a minor setback around June 28, when he came down with a mild fever. Lookin At Lucky worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 at Santa Anita on July 10 under jockey Martin Garcia. "He's training great, he looks great, everything is great," Baffert said. "That's gonna be a good race." Now if only we could convince him to post training information via status update, life would be good. For more comprehensive information on horse racing, visit Helloracefans.com and Horseracingnation.com. You can follow Claire Novak on Facebook and Twitter at @ClaireNovak.

Tags:HorseRacing
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