Arthur called Bafferts blanket use of thyroxine troublesome and said at the meeting, I havent found an example of a barn that uses it in all their horses like Baffert does. Yet he determined that the drug wasnt to blame for the deaths. It will all be settled by lawyers and judges and that takes time. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. This article was published more than1 year ago. [31][32] Additional charges were added on January 3, 2022. [24], On May 17, 2021, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) banned Baffert from entering Medina Spirit or any of his other horses in the 2021 Belmont Stakes or any other race at Belmont Park. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. Baffert did not have a horse hit the board again in any of the Triple Crown races until 2009, when he trained Pioneerof The Nile to a second-place finish in the Derby. The California Horse Racing Board cleared Baffert of any wrongdoing, but with reservation, calling such a cluster of deaths a less than 1-in-1,000 occurrence. Pegram persuaded Baffert to try thoroughbreds. Scopolamine, Baedeker wrote, can be injected but very often is the result of feed or straw that has been contaminated with Jimson weed., Arthur had previously suggested he didnt consider Jimson weed contamination to be a serious threat, writing in a 2016 memo that the likelihood under our current procedures of getting a positive from environmental contamination is rather low. In an interview this week, Arthur said he meant that such incidences were infrequent but said that in California, if you have a scopolamine positive, its going to be associated with Jimson weed thats just the reality of it., On April 26, records show, Arthur emailed CHRB officials that he had talked to Bob and informed him the proceedings would not immediately interfere with Justifys Triple Crown schedule. When The Post shared the data on 72 of the horse deaths with Brewster, he and Bafferts lawyer, W. Craig Robertson III, said that one of the horses listed was never in Bafferts care, though it is marked as his horse in CHRB records, and that another was a stable pony not being raced. Once the golden boy of horse racing, Bob Baffert now the face of its disgrace. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Yes, I'm a registered Republican, although I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. Hes a very unique personality, a unique sense of humor. You wouldnt know it now.. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . 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. One of his grooms, Clemintino Abrego Garcia, testified that Baffert called him three or four times attempting to get him to admit that he had eaten baked goods near the horse. Kentucky regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test. And Bafferts veterinarians were prescribing it at his request without conducting laboratory tests to see whether the horses needed the drug, according to Arthurs later report. [10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. Monty Roberts, a trainer who has agitated for more humane treatment of racehorses throughout his six-decade career, said that Baffert has long been one of the most important voices holding the sport back from reform. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. It was obvious long before Miners Daughter collapsed in a blood-tinged froth in March 2013 that there was something amiss in Barn 61 at Hollywood Park, the Los Angeles-area racetrack. In the 1980s, Baffert moved to California and worked at Los Alamitos Race Course, where he switched to training Thoroughbreds full-time in 1991. California keeps track of horse deaths by trainer, but there are errors and limits to the data. Mr. Real Quiet won the Preakness as well, but, like Silver Charm, the horse was denied a Triple Crown win and finished second in the Belmont Stakes by a nose. Similarly, cases against two horses who tested positive in Arkansas in 2020 for lidocaine were dismissed as being the result of accidental transfer from an assistant trainer who was using the medication on himself. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. Baffert has saddled 34 horses in the Derby third-most in history since his first appearance in 1996. To me, whats in the best interest of the sport is not seeing anyone being dogpiled on.. The deadliest period came between 2000 and 2005, when 34 of Bafferts horses in California died. From there, he moved to racing at recognized tracks, scoring his first victory at age 17 in 1970. In September, Baffert learned via a text message from Barbara Borden, chief steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, that his horse Gamine had tested positive for the anti-inflammatory betamethasone at the Kentucky Oaks. In 2015, the Daily Herald ran a profile on Jill Baffert, explaining that she was a former journalist and waitress from Centerville. Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of the second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has sued the CHRB. Arthur and CHRB investigators inspected Bafferts barn, reviewed veterinary records and interviewed Baffert, who was flanked by an attorney. [45], Last edited on 11 February 2023, at 14:09, American Pharoah Stakes / FrontRunner Stakes / Norfolk Stakes, Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes / Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap, Los Alamitos Futurity / Hollywood Futurity, Starlet Stakes / Hollywood Starlet Stakes, United States Champion Trainer by earnings, American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse, American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse, "Bob Baffert Has Come a Long Way in Horse Racing", "Baffert nears $300M mark with an all-star stable", "American Pharoah claims first Triple Crown since 1978", "Bob Baffert no stranger to failed drug tests by his horses", "Press Release Racing Museum April 20, 2009", "The last stand of Bob Baffert, horse racing's most successful and embattled trainer", "Medina Spirit's Kentucky Derby win in doubt after postrace drug test", "Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Withdrawal Guidelines Thoroughbred; Standardbred; Quarter Horse, Appaloosa, and Arabian", "Baffert: Meds applied to Derby winner had steroid", "Medina Spirit Tests Positive for Betamethasone", "Baffert says Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive", "Churchill Downs' Statement in Response to Medina Spirit's Post-Race Test Result Allegations", "Trainer: Kentucky Derby winner faces disqualification due to 'cancel culture', "Bob Baffert asserts Medina Spirit's Kentucky Derby win was valid, invokes 'cancel culture', "Bob Baffert says Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was treated with ointment that contained steroid", "Baffert Has Turned Medina Spirit Controversy Into a Circus", "Baffert's Leaking Credibility Reaches Saturation Point", "Churchill Downs Inc. suspends Baffert for 2 years", "Trainer Bob Baffert suspended from entering Medina Spirit, other horses at Belmont Park", "New York Racing Officials Suspend Baffert From Belmont Stakes", "Trainer Bob Baffert sues to get New York suspension lifted", "Horse trainer Bob Baffert sues New York racing officials over suspension", "Baffert sues to overturn New York racing ban", "Judge nullifies horse trainer Bob Baffert's NY suspension", "Baffert charged by New York Racing, scheduled for hearing", "Legendary horse trainer charged again following Kentucky Derby scandal", "NYRA Amends Charges Against Baffert to Include Bute Overages", "The Seattle Times | Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment, travel, restaurants and opinion for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest", "Bob Baffert fined $1,500, Gamine disqualified from third-place finish in Kentucky Oaks", "Here's what we know following Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit's positive drug test", "Medina Spirit Dies of Apparent Heart Attack at Santa Anita", "Baffert Horses Big Part of Sudden Death Spike", "Report on the investigation and review of the seven sudden deaths on the Hollywood Park main track of horses trained by Bob Baffert and stabled in Barn 61", "Cardiac Failure Fatalities Spike in California, Baffert Barn", "Bafferts Make Whopper Of A Donation To Equine Charities", "Bafferts, Espinoza donate Belmont winnings", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bob_Baffert&oldid=1138770123, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 14:09. [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point. But after learning that Justify and another Baffert horse had tested positive for the same drug, Arthur announced in an e-mail to CHRB officials: The scopolamine cases will be handled differently than usual. Arthur said in a recent interview that he was referring to the logistics of what was clearly going to be a high-profile case that needed to be handled carefully.. To the newspaper, she. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. A complaint is filed in every case where the split sample confirms the original laboratory finding, read an advisory on the CHRB website. Political Cartoons. I think much of the GOP political party is moving too far to the right. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. Bob is trying to put 2020 behind him and move forward in a positive manner, Robertson wrote in an e-mail to Borden. Horse trainer Bob Baffert before the 2020 Breeders Cup at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. Trainer Bob Baffert pets an outriders horse while watching workouts at Churchill Downs in April. By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. The hearing for a preliminary injunction began in federal court on Thursday afternoon, continuing a nearly two-year-long legal battle between Baffert and the racetrack following his suspension back in 2021. Yeah, but thats what drives him. But that number may drop to six if the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission disqualifies this years winner, Medina Spirit, for a medication violation, the trainers fifth since May 2020. . Baedeker and Arthur said in interviews that no matter how it was handled it would have been impossible to resolve the case that quickly. The goal, the people familiar said, was to get Baffert to support languishing reforms in the sport. He routinely challenges most sanctions, usually agreeing to accept fines but vigorously fighting suspensions. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief.
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