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. Bafferts breakthrough thoroughbred was Thirty Slews, who won the Breeders Cup Sprint in 1992. Federal prosecutors had just indicted more than two dozen trainers, veterinarians and others on charges related to doping horses, a seismic event in a sport already reeling from a well-publicized spate of horse deaths and perpetually dwindling revenue. And in the 13 months following his essay in The Post, Bafferts horses tested positive for prohibited or excessive substances five times in three states. [33], In February 2022, Baffert was suspended 90 days and fined $7,500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. No sanctions were issued against Baffert.[40][41]. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . Arthur B. Hancock III, a prominent thoroughbred owner, has for three decades been a leading proponent for eradicating drugs from the sport. At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack. It seems the biggest problem trainer Bob Baffert had during the running of the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on Saturday was keeping his face covering over his nose. Like Baffert, Hollendorfer is in the thoroughbred Hall of Fame. Its truly painful when you know what the truth is, Baffert told The Times earlier this week in his first interview on the subject since May. We went there with expectations not very high. We might have gone to the board sooner, but obviously because of the high-profile nature of this thing we were making sure we had everything buttoned up, he said. Biography Bob Baffert is best known as a horse rider. (A CHRB spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. You could trust him and that never changed.. [2] Baffert and his family reside in California. The bold statement appeared to put Baffert on the right side of history: By the end of the year, President Donald Trump had signed into law the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, which promised to reform the sport. The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of . What we knew about horses you could put in a thimble. Nonetheless, in that case, Arkansas suspended Baffert for 15 days. Again, we can most likely agree to most anything in Kentucky except a suspension.. CHRB brass agreed to follow Arthurs suggestion. Baffert grew up on a ranch in Nogales, Arizona, where his family raised cattle and chickens. [8] His first suspension was in 1977 for misuse of morphene, but thereafter he had no violations for the next eight years. 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. 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 responded: Zero tolerance?, Robertson, Bafferts attorney, then tried to negotiate for Baffert to avoid potential suspensions in both Arkansas and Kentucky. When the CHRB also decided to run DNA tests on the horses blood samples, the records show Arthur said the request would be a big deal and asked if they could wait until after the Preakness, which was 10 days away. The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Adam Gray, a former aide to Cardoza who had been in office for less than three months. Justify faced disqualification from his victory in the Santa Anita Derby that would cost his owners a partnership of wealthy interests their share of the $600,000 first-place purse. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. This article was published more than1 year ago, LOS ANGELES In March 2020, horse racings most recognizable figure, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, declared that his sport was in crisis.. 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 is trying to put 2020 behind him and move forward in a positive manner, Robertson wrote in an e-mail to Borden. But hes a good person, no, a great person. That investigation led to the indictments that Baffert said spurred him to embrace more oversight, so the cheaters would be quickly caught and punished.. None of them are considered performance-enhancing in the traditional sense, such as amphetamines or speedballs. Hell do anything to win, and hes got all his bases covered politically, Barry Irwin, owner of 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, said of Baffert. Hal Earnhardt, an Arizona car dealer and Bafferts oldest client, introduced him to Pegram, who made his money in fast-food franchising. You wouldnt know it now.. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. Teflon."[11]. Other people may have made a different decision, but to say that there was no basis for that decision is pure bulls---, said Arthur, who announced his retirement this year. His most serious infraction was also his first. When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. He was 10 when his father, Bill, bought a couple of quarter horses, plowed some land for a track and Bob started riding them before school each morning. It didnt take Baffert long to dominate Rillito Park and Prescott Downs in Arizona. Baffert, however, wouldnt change the outcome. . After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. (Arthur and those involved with the bill said the actions were unrelated. The suspension was scheduled to run March 8 through June 5. Medina Spirit died after a training session on 6 December 2021 and an ensuing necropsy on 11 February 2022 was inconclusive. I dont see somebody who is doping horses, Martin said after reviewing Bafferts drug-related history. Its just disheartening. Baffert was recently suspended for 90 days by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, California Horse Racing Board, and the New York State Gaming Commission for drug violations in the 2021 Kentucky . Baffert often speaks of his life as if its a Shakespearean play, humankinds tragedies mingling with his own existential crises. The winner's share of the $600 purse was $330. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. In a hearing in October, the state and attorneys for Baffert and the horses owners stipulated the scopolamine positive was the result of contamination and it would have no performance-enhancing effects. Its all right there in black and white; thats all I can say., ARCI President Ed Martin said the rules limiting race-day medications have been tightened not out of concern for performance enhancement but to prevent breakdowns. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. The positive test only emerged when the New York Times reported it more than a year later. Baffert revisited the Derby the next year, sending two top colts, Real Quiet and Indian Charlie, to Louisville. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. Baffert made the. Baffert's attorney argued in court that the trainer's May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. Petersen noted that in a previous case the board had exonerated the trainers of three horses who had tested positive for scopolamine, finding the flunked tests were a result of Jimson weed. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. Between November 2011 and March 2013, however, Baffert had seven of his horses die of sudden death, not on the race track. By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. According to Arthurs report, he found that Baffert was dispensing Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a prescription thyroid hormone, to all horses in his care. Baffert parlayed a hobby as a 5-foot-9 jockey into a job as a quarter-horse conditioner into a career as a thoroughbred trainer before jumping onto the highest pedestal of horse racing and becoming the most recognizable name in the sport. It sounds like hes deflecting, Gagliano said of Baffert. to move forward. Petersen did not respond to an interview request. Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. It was then that Baffert, one of the most accessible trainers in horse racing, stopped talking until this week. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. ), Arthur has defended his handling of the Justify positive. After Arthur cleared Baffert of wrongdoing, the legislation was abandoned. But Californias adoption of ARCI guidelines is not a given. 10, 2022. Arthur and CHRB investigators inspected Bafferts barn, reviewed veterinary records and interviewed Baffert, who was flanked by an attorney. [11], Prior to Medina Spirit's death, Baffert had last been under intense scrutiny a decade earlier when seven horses in his stables at Hollywood Park died between November 2, 2011 and March 14, 2013, all from sudden and later unexplained heart attacks. Among them, according to interviews and records obtained by The Post: a push to have the veterinary official removed from office, supported by a trade group with Baffert among its directors. LOS ANGELES In 2018, as star trainer Bob Baffert led his thoroughbred Justify to the Triple Crown, California regulators embarked on a secret effort to exonerate Baffert after the horses positive test for a banned substance, according to confidential records obtained by The Washington Post that fully detail the saga for the first time. 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. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. In April, after Arkansas reversed its decision on two Baffert horses and overturned his suspension, trainer Richard Baltas was bad-mouthing Baffert at Clockers Corner, the place where trainers and fans watch horses work in the morning at Santa Anita. Has his success made people hate him more? [10][12] However, his violations for use of prohibited medications has sparked controversy. Now 68, Baffert is seeing his livelihood and reputation under attack after a series of medication infractions have made him an outcast to some in the industry and a pariah to many more outside of it. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. Rick Arthur, Californias medical equine director, who the documents show played a central role in the scuttling of the Justify matter, said the only part of the CHRBs handling of the case that disappointed him was the secrecy. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. He claimed that the horse death data provided by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was not possible.. I thought wed get fourth. Hes a very unique personality, a unique sense of humor. Hes Mr. Teflon.. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. Baffert was fined $10,000. Share on Facebook TWEET This The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. This in turn led to a ban from all California Horse Racing Board facilities beginning April 4 due to a rule removing any trainer under a 60 day or higher ban from all CHRB facilities. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. He started at The Times in 1980 and left in 1995 to be sports editor of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Co. sports coordinator in 2002. Racing lacks a central clearinghouse for data on deaths nationally, and regulators in many states do not track deaths by trainer. Hollendorfers lawyer, Drew Couto, has claimed his client is being unfairly blamed for a high-profile spike of deaths at the track. Great Read: Bob Baffert has come a long way in horse racing, Santa Anita opens Friday as prelude to Breeders Cup at Del Mar, Surging Crespi receives another strong performance from sophomore Diego Velazquez, High school baseball and softball: Fridays scores, With Marcus Morris sidelined, Clippers look to stabilize lineup and rotations, With their playoff lives at stake, Darvin Ham challenges Lakers effort and urgency. But when factoring in the number of races run, Bafferts horses have died at the highest rate of the 10 trainers who have had the most horse deaths. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. CHRB regulations state that its foreign substances guidelines are based on ARCI recommendations as modified by the state board. In 1997, he trained Silver Charm to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, finishing second in the Belmont. He claimed the boards cover up cost him damages including the $400,000 difference between the first-place and second-place purses in the Santa Anita Derby. 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. 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. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. [25][26] On June 14, 2021, Baffert sued the NYRA alleging the association had no authority to suspend his license and that suspension "without prior notice" was a violation of the law. Earlier data was unreliable, the racing publication said. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. Those who have known Baffert the longest, including a core group of owners, recognize his flaws but generally remain steadfast in their support of him. 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. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. Santa Anitas 16-day fall season begins Friday with 14 stakes races over three days as trainers and owners take aim at the Breeders Cup at Del Mar. The trainer was fined $2,500. 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 . Does his love of the camera sometimes bite him? asked longtime owner and friend Mike Pegram. He still has a responsibility as the face of the game but I dont think hell overcome [this] because his personality wont allow him to do it.. Another day passed before it was discovered the colt was administered a topical ointment for a rash that contained betamethasone. 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. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. The colt went on to win the Preakness Stakes, giving the trainer his third shot at winning the Triple Crown. The lawyers said that taking into account Bafferts estimate of how many horses he has in his care, a count that differs from the starts data, the number of deaths of horses in Bobs barn is consistent with what would normally be expected from the horse population in general. Starts are regularly used, including by the CHRB, to study the death rates of a trainer. Robert A. Baffert (born January 13, 1953) is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. A recent conversation about the tragedy of horse deaths wended its way back to the defense of his reputation. If it surprised me it would be that I expected more, Roberts said. The Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Trainer in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2015, Baffert has won 18 Breeders' Cup races, including four editions of the Classic with . It hurts racing., In the same speech, Baffert agitated for the continued use of Lasix, which is popular with trainers but increasingly criticized as a potential performance-enhancer and masking agent for other drugs.
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