The quest to find Jimson weed continued. Churchill Downs announced that any points earned in the leadup to the Kentucky Derby by horses associated with a suspended trainer would not be counted a move that seemingly targets Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. 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. View . Baffert's disgrace could help turn racing to better future | Lexington The CHRB ruled it was caused by feed contamination, citing six other horses across four barns who also tested positive. 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. A complaint is filed in every case where the split sample confirms the original laboratory finding, read an advisory on the CHRB website. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks. 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. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. With private eyes and political muscle, horse racings elite pushed to punish dopers, Throughout the months-long process, CHRB officials had indicated they planned on filing a complaint against Baffert, which would have exposed the failed drug test. The CHRB officially opened an investigation. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. If you lose 75% of the time, youre considered really, really good. The trainer was fined $2,500. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. Less than two weeks later, Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. to move forward. Petersen did not respond to an interview request. Bell told an investigator he then checked other bales and found a branch and pods he thought were Jimson weed in the parking lot. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Churchill Downs goes after suspended trainer Bob Baffert with new policy. The average death rate for racehorses in California, according to an analysis of more than 5,000 deaths since 2000, is 7.2 per 1,000 starts. Baffert has been married twice and has five children: four with his first wife, Sherry: Taylor, Canyon, Forest, and Savannah. Celebrities Who Are Republicans/Conservatives - HubPages Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. John Cherwa is a special contributor to the Los Angeles Times. 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. . was. Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC, declined to be interviewed. In 2015, Baffert trained the 2014 champion two-year-old colt American Pharoah to win the Triple Crown, the first to do so in 37 years. With Time Running Out In Legal Wars, Bob Baffert Says Four Of His He followed it with six more Derbies, two of which launched Triple Crown runs, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. But its a lot more difficult when going against a private company, such as Churchill Downs, which can invoke its own penalties. Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. In February 2013, with Bafferts Hollywood Park sudden-death toll at six and Californias equine medical director, Rick Arthur, probing his barns operations, state legislation was introduced that would place term limits on Arthurs position, eventually forcing him out of a $309,000-a-year job. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. 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. In 2012, Baffert saddled Bodemeister, named for the trainer's youngest son, Bode, to second-place finishes in the Derby and Preakness. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. 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. The colt lost the Belmont Stakes after breaking poorly from the starting gate. Ruis is suing the CHRB for absolving Baffert of a positive for scopolamine, a byproduct of jimsonweed, after Justify tested for the drug after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. [27][28] On July 14 the suspension was reversed by U. S. Federal District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon sitting in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. Baffert was suspended by the NYRA on May 17 -- a big deal as it barred the legendary horse trainer from entering into the prestigious June 5 Belmont Stakes race. If it surprised me it would be that I expected more, Roberts said. His most serious infraction was also his first. Baffert trained Lookin At Lucky, co-owned by Mike Pegram, to win the Preakness Stakes in 2010. Trainer Bob Baffert's ban from racing in New York is over - Associated Press Baffert barred from participating in Preakness Stakes by Maryland commission By Jacob Calvin Meyer - The. The month after Gray introduced his legislation, Bafferts seventh sudden death made the deaths at Hollywood Park a national news story. Only once has a Kentucky Derby winner been disqualified for a medication violation. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been suspended from the home of the Kentucky Derby for two years after Medina Spirit's positive post-race drug was confirmed, the company that runs the. After finishing last season strong, CJ Abrams is ready for more. Carson Valley was killed in a freak accident in 2019 at Del Mar when a loose horse crashed into the Baffert trainee. [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. Bob Baffert Family, Net Worth, Parents, Wife, Sons, Education And Regardless, the indictments appeared to sway Baffert, whose opinion piece in The Post supported drastic action to fix a broken system. Among the provisions in the federal legislation that Baffert supported is a phaseout of Lasix on race day a reform Baffert had opposed for years. He won the aforementioned first race at a sanctioned track in 1970, but his mother insisted he attend college and he enrolled in the University of Arizonas Race Track Industry Program. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. Early life and career [ edit] Hospital food is a punchline. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. Hal Earnhardt, an Arizona car dealer and Bafferts oldest client, introduced him to Pegram, who made his money in fast-food franchising. Real Quiet won the race that year, and Baffert also finished third with Indian Charlie. Hollywood Park closed in 2013, and the saga of the dead horses there faded quickly from the headlines. Racing officials ruled that the positive test was a result of contamination and the wins of Charlatan and Gamine were restored. In the past three years, there were 188 deaths involving either racing or training in California. Baffert's horses have won seven Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks. Two Triple Crown winners and a signature shock of white hair will do that for a man. Bob Baffert | National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Grays successful election committee. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. Fellow trainer D. Wayne Lukas attributed Baffert's success to his "extraordinary eye for a good horse" and his management ability in finding the right opportunities for his charges.[5]. The dark side of Bob Baffert's reign. This pattern has bred frustration among some horsemen. 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. 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. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . Arkansas racing officials vote not to suspend Bob Baffert - ESPN.com The Judge made her ruling based on the NYRA having not allowed Baffert a forum to refute their claims and stated that (they the NYRA).."had held no hearing let alone a prompt one. Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. Shah said the two parted over disagreements that should have been resolved, without being specific. Maryland Racing Commission Officially Suspends Bob Baffert, For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. ), The records show Arthurs early decisions led to the CHRB veering off its usual course in its handling of the Justify case, beginning with his email to a testing coordinator that read, The scopolamine cases will be handled differently than usual., By the CHRBs own guidelines, the way forward was clear: If a second sample came back positive, the CHRB would file a complaint. Hollendorfers lawyer, Drew Couto, has claimed his client is being unfairly blamed for a high-profile spike of deaths at the track. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Testimonies have begun in the case of horse trainer Bob Baffert against Churchill Downs. Has his success made people hate him more? Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance. The suspension was scheduled to run March 8 through June 5. The goal, the people familiar said, was to get Baffert to support languishing reforms in the sport. To the newspaper, she. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. His attorney, let me just say, worked very, very hard, recalled former California Deputy Attorney General Jerald L. Mosley, who represented the state in attempting to uphold the suspension. Thats much higher than the Jockey Clubs widely cited national rates, which never exceed two deaths per 1,000 starts. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . Were going to get through it.. The. By then, Arthur already had a years-long, tangled history with Baffert. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. It bothers me when hes not considered the Kentucky Derby winner.. Hearings begin for Bob Baffert's case against Churchill Downs ban Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. Regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert - Los Angeles Times I dont see somebody who is doping horses, Martin said after reviewing Bafferts drug-related history. As he did so, a political group with Baffert on its board was involved in legislation that would result in Arthur losing his job. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. It will all be settled by lawyers and judges and that takes time. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. In each instance, the death is investigated. I went under the radar. [19][20] On May 11, Baffert stated Medina Spirit had dermatitis, for which an ointment containing betamethasone was used. 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. It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. Sports team owners make huge political donations. Where does their 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. [7] Baffert became a 7-time winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2021 with Medina Spirit. But the sports new governing authority will not take over until mid-2022. Board member Michael E. Pegram had for decades hired Baffert to train his top horses, including the winner of the 1998 Kentucky Derby, Real Quiet. [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. Without that win, Justify would not have qualified to run in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, a month later. But even in those cases, which were handled according to established rules, the horses were disqualified and their winning purses were forfeited. The Post separately obtained start data dating back to 2000 from the Daily Racing Form to put the deaths into context. 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. A week after that, Baffert learned of the positive test. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. The New York Racing Assn. "[29][30] On September 10, 2021 Baffert was charged by NYRA for conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing. Jerry Hollendorfer has the most deaths with 122. 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. Baffert has saddled 34 horses in the Derby third-most in history since his first appearance in 1996. [33], In February 2022, Baffert was suspended 90 days and fined $7,500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. 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. Horse owner and racing reform advocate Barry Irwin has stated, "He's Mr. And promote he does, chatting with people he met one minute ago as if they were long-lost friends. The consolation is knowing the truth will come out as the process plays out. 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 horse's. "We live in a different world now. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. Baffert said the horse ingested hay after a groom, who was taking cough medicine, had urinated in the horses stall. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. 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. [42][44] A friend of Baffert's and an inductee into the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame, Adair died on Preakness Day, May 16, 2015, at 71. He paused, then added: Ive learned who my friends are.. Medina Spirit: Bob Baffert again playing victim in drug controversy [2][4], Baffert established his early reputation with less expensive horses like Silver Charm and Real Quiet, bought for $16,500 and $17,000 respectively. There are no secrets on the backside.. With upward of $1 million in yearly revenue drawn from wagering at tracks, the TOCs stated mission included establishing fair and reasonable medication rules and integrity standards., Baffert, the groups resident celebrity, was in business with several of his colleagues. On the morning of this years Kentucky Derby, he was going through his list of past Kentucky Derby winners and should-have-been winners, and dismissed Medina Spirit as not the best horse in the race. Things would have been so much simpler if the horse had not won the race. [10] Though number of racing starts are used to calculate rates of death for all horses in the care of race trainers, not all horse deaths were animals in race training nor were they necessarily race-related fatalities. Petersen opined it would have been unfair to punish Baffert for what he called an oversight by CHRB staff and said there is no evidence to suggest a nefarious motive by the board. And Ive warned them that this was not going to stay a secret at the time, he testified of the CHRB, but that was their decision, not mine. (Baedeker, who retired last year, told The Post they couldnt legally disclose the test results because CHRB did not file a complaint.). It basically said something under his control is associated with these fatalities, Arthur said, but regulators couldnt act without evidence of a rules violation. 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. The substance was indeed Jimson weed. What we knew about horses you could put in a thimble. Judge nullifies horse trainer Bob Baffert's NY suspension As the trainer battles to protect his legacy, the records offer a new window into how those charged with running horse racings disjointed regulatory system have appeared to treat the powerful trainer with deference. Gagliano, the Jockey Club president, denied that the group had any knowledge of whom 5 Stones investigated, outside of the eventual indictments. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. It then changed the classification of scopolamine so that its detection in a horse would trigger only a fine and not disqualification and loss of the races purse. Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate him, Pegram said. He got his first big break in 1992 when he won his first Breeder's Cup race with Thirty Slews. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. [8][37] That case was eventually dismissed as the regulators concluded the facts supported an instance of feed contamination. The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. 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.. Its all because of his success.. EXPLAINER: Why Is Bob Baffert Not in the Kentucky Derby? He routinely challenges most sanctions, usually agreeing to accept fines but vigorously fighting suspensions. Following the publication of the report, Baffert tweeted: Im gratified that CHRB completed its investigation & found there was no wrongdoing. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. A CHRB investigator, searching for Jimson weed, had found a leafy substance at Santa Anita Park, the records show, and following the Derby, Arthur and the CHRBs lawyer agreed to have it tested. 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. followed up and ruled Baffert would not be allowed to run in New York. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. 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. He has also won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes once. The month after that, Grays bill to limit Arthurs term was passed out of a committee. Bob Baffert Sues New York Racing Association, You've Got No Basis To Baffert revisited the Derby the next year, sending two top colts, Real Quiet and Indian Charlie, to Louisville. 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. 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.
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