Midnight Lute: Arizona alum Bob Baffert once named a racehorse after Wildcats coach Lute Olson

There’s a story behind the name of every racehorse, and one in particular involved Lute Olson, Jerry Tarkanian and a last-minute switcheroo by a college basketball recruit. 

Enter, champion racehorse Midnight Lute. 

In an interview with Pac-12 Networks on Monday, trainer and Arizona Wildcats alum Bob Baffert recalled naming one of his horses after the legendary UA basketball head coach. 

The infamous 1986 story goes that Tarkanian, who was the head coach at UNLV at the time, and Olson were in an intense recruiting battle for Tom Tolbert. As his final decision neared, it appeared that Tolbert was set to play for the Runnin’ Rebels in Las Vegas. But Olson — as he usually did — worked his magic and got Tolbert to commit to Arizona at the last minute.

There’s been different iterations of what went down, including Olson’s version where he said he didn’t consider Tolbert’s commitment to UNLV to be “serious.” Still, it was enough for Tarkanian to coin the moniker ‘Midnight Lute’ for Olson’s crafty maneuvers. 

The tale struck Baffert to the point where he decided to use the nickname for his own race horse.

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“It’s a great story, right?”  Baffert said. “It turned out to be a great racehorse.”

Midnight Lute was a champion in his own right. The racehorse went on to win four major races, including back-to-back Breeder’s Cup victories in 2007 and 2008.

And of course, Olson was one of the horse’s biggest fans.

“Lute, he loved it,” Baffert said. “He came out and watched him run at Del Mar [Fairgrounds].”

Baffert’s horses have won a total of five Kentucky Derby’s and the two most recent Triple Crowns: American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. Baffert, a 1977 graduate of UA’s Race Track Industry Program, has been a long-time admirer of Olson’s accomplishments and legacy at Arizona.

“Great person, but what a great coach,” Baffert said “He made Arizona basketball.”