SARATOGA SPRINGS – War Emblem, hero of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, bedded down yesterday at Monmouth Park, where he’ll be heavily favored in Sunday’s $1 million Haskell Invitational Handicap, his first race since a stumbling start in the June 8 Belmont Stakes cost him a shot at the Triple Crown.
Following a Fed-Ex flight from California, War arrived at the Shore at 4:25 p.m., accompanied by assistant trainer Jim Barnes and stable pony Cisco.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who Saturday night marries his longtime sweetheart Jill Moss near Del Mar racetrack, will fly to New Jersey Sunday on a private jet.
“We’ll leave at 5:30 in the morning and land at 1,” Baffert said. “I’ll probably still have my tuxedo on, and they’ll tie cans and write ‘just married’ on the back of the plane. Then we’ll fly to Saratoga that night and honeymoon at the yearling sales (Aug. 6-8).”