My heart tells me one thing, but my head tells me something else, said veteran racing journalist Ron Flatter, the managing editor of the website Horse Racing Nation. To the newspaper, she. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. While he allowed that the case was handled differently because of the Triple Crown ramifications, the special treatment had nothing to do with the horses trainer. Baffert was inducted into Lone Star Park's Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2009, he was nominated and inducted to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame, the same year as a filly he trained, Silverbulletday. In New York, chefs are redefining it. Yeah, but thats what drives him. At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . [2], Baffert graduated from the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program with a Bachelor of Science degree,[3] got married, and began training quarter horses at a Prescott, Arizona farm. He has won the Kentucky Oaks three times: first in 1999 with Silverbulletday, who was later selected for the Hall of Fame, then with Plum Pretty in 2011 and with Abel Tasman in 2017. "We live in a different world now. In his claustrophobic and cluttered office at Santa Anita Barn 5, Bob Baffert, the hall of fame trainer, was pushing papers and moving stacks, hunting for a faded photo of his 17-year-old self aboard a long-forgotten quarter horse from a small racing circuit in Arizona. After Uncle Sam, a 4-year-old colt, died during a workout at the track the following January, a vet wrote: This is the 3rd for this owner/trainer in about as many months collapsed and died.. A complaint is filed in every case where the split sample confirms the original laboratory finding, read an advisory on the CHRB website. Why would people want to be betting on horses when there are allegations and there are real positives and hes getting off on technicalities.. After finishing last season strong, CJ Abrams is ready for more. A week after that, Baffert learned of the positive test. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. Nothing is held back.. American Pharoah next won the 140th Preakness Stakes, making six victories in that race for Baffert, who also finished fourth with Dortmund. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. We went there with expectations not very high. Thats much higher than the Jockey Clubs widely cited national rates, which never exceed two deaths per 1,000 starts. According to data provided by the California Horse Racing Board and supplemented by The Times research, the trainer has had 75 horses die since 2000 either racing, training, or by illness or non-exercise accidents. [10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. Despite the cautious approach of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which five months later still has not acted on the drug positive, or disqualified, Medina Spirit, Churchill Downs suspended the trainer for two years. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. Unlike a normal day at the races, Bafferts fate will not be decided by a photo-finish camera or the actions of a jockey aboard a 1,000-pound animal. The CHRB provided The Post with death data dating back to late 1990 showing that at least 87 of Bafferts horses have died in California since then. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOC's political action committee, California records show. The New York Racing Assn. I felt that we wouldve been dumping this in their lap, that we wouldve been putting them in an unfair position, and that we needed to go ahead and do the difficult thing, quite frankly, which is take responsibility for the decision, Baedeker said. Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance. Bob Baffert has supporters and detractors in how he deals with jockeys By John Cherwa Special Contributor Nov. 2, 2016 4:28 PM PT Bob Baffert, still fresh and snappy after hours of morning. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. Baedeker said that before they made their recommendation to the board, they consulted with the states Office of the Attorney General, for which Petersen works, and received concurrence . Gagliano, the Jockey Club president, denied that the group had any knowledge of whom 5 Stones investigated, outside of the eventual indictments. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. He has often blamed drug positives on trace contamination from substances in a horses barn and has criticized tightening restrictions on the race-day use of bute and other drugs. Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. Horse trainer Bob Baffert on Monday argued that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had been a victim of "cancel culture" after the horse failed a postrace drug test . Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. It basically said something under his control is associated with these fatalities, Arthur said, but regulators couldnt act without evidence of a rules violation. On June 1, Baedeker had asked the agencys top lawyer and investigator how close they were to filing the Scopolamine complaints., On July 9, a month after Justifys Belmont triumph, the agencys chief counsel, Robert Brodnik, wrote to the CHRB investigator that they would like to officially file by Monday.. He won his first race on that 1970 afternoon but not as a trainer. Baffert did not win another classic race until 2001, when he won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with eventual Hall of Fame member Point Given. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. Either way, the state-appointed official probing Bafferts role in the deaths at Hollywood Park did so as his job was being threatened by the efforts of a Baffert-affiliated coalition. Horse trainer Bob Baffert, left, leaves federal court in Brooklyn on July 12. Does the drug that could strip Medina Spirit of a Kentucky Derby win enhance performance? By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. If you lose 75% of the time, youre considered really, really good. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Testimonies have begun in the case of horse trainer Bob Baffert against Churchill Downs. In correspondence with the agencys lawyer, Baedeker wrote that because our staff failed to act in a timely manner, the horses, trainer, owner and others could be harmed unjustly if they didnt use the more lenient classification. During a hearing, records show, Baffert argued the positive test could have been a result of his stable hands eating poppy seed bagels and muffins around the horse. In February, Kentucky racing officials decided against suspending Baffert, with Borden telling the Louisville Courier-Journal a lesser punishment was all in the course of being fair. And in April, Arkansas officials reversed the 15-day suspension for lidocaine positives that the trainer blamed on an assistants pain patch. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019. It will all be settled by lawyers and judges and that takes time. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual. Robertson blamed the frequency of Bafferts drug-related violations on how often his horses are tested after winning races and said, Horse racings regulations need to catch up with the sensitivity of modern day testing., Jockey Club President James L. Gagliano dismissed that frequent complaint from Baffert. Baffert wants a preliminary injunction that would keep Churchill Downs from denying his horses entry into races there and at Turfway Park, in Florence, Ky., and from "prohibiting him from earning. The board agreed not to disqualify Justify. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. Bob Baffert has taken up more of my time than I ever should have had to deal with, Arthur said, before again coming to the defense of Bafferts treatment of his horses: He certainly puts the pedal to the metal, but he doesnt close his eyes. The Jockey Club has a database of thoroughbred breakdowns meaning deaths stemming from track injuries but said it is barred from sharing its data because of its contracts with racetracks. He routinely challenges most sanctions, usually agreeing to accept fines but vigorously fighting suspensions. In the next six months, three of his horses tested positive for banned or excessive substances four times in California, Arkansas and Kentucky. At first it was believed the substance came from a pain-relief patch that Bafferts longtime assistant Jimmy Barnes was wearing because of back pain. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. In 2007, he joined the 15-member board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), a nonprofit that represents the roughly 9,000 CHRB-licensed owners in the state. This was fun. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. On Monday, Bell confirmed he helped with the search, adding Jimson weed has plagued California for years.. The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. His primary attorney is Craig Robertson, who represents him in all regulatory matters, but he has recused himself from any action against Churchill Downs because his law firm does business with the company, creating a conflict of interest. Does his love of the camera sometimes bite him? asked longtime owner and friend Mike Pegram. [19][20] On May 11, Baffert stated Medina Spirit had dermatitis, for which an ointment containing betamethasone was used. His white hair, tinted glasses and accessibility make him a natural to promote the sport. He's a cheat and an asshole, and I hope Medina Spirit gets taken down and his connections are denied the $1.8 million first-place check. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. Political Cartoons. We live and work in a fishbowl, with rumors and accusations flowing constantly, Baffert said. If it surprised me it would be that I expected more, Roberts said. Arthur is the CHRBs primary advisor on drug testing, according to state code; the role of determining penalties in individual cases falls to its stewards and commissioners. [8] As of 1January2022[update] the question of whether the horse would join Dancer's Image by being disqualified for a drug violation in the Derby remains pending. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. On at least 14 occasions, Baffert has been caught racing a horse with more than the allowable amount of bute in its system, according to a review of ARCI data, making it his most common offense. But Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. [13] In Kentucky, any amount of betamethasone detected in post-race testing is a violation and could result in a disqualification. If the complaint was ruled on quickly enough, it would have made Justify ineligible for the Kentucky Derby. In 2000, for instance, another of his horses, Nautical Look, tested positive for morphine, landing Baffert a two-month suspension. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point.

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