He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. 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. The deadliest period came between 2000 and 2005, when 34 of Bafferts horses in California died. This pattern has bred frustration among some horsemen. 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. However, Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone. Its so obvious. [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. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. The board followed their recommendation. After finishing last season strong, CJ Abrams is ready for more. That was one of the most exciting and enjoyable Derbies, Baffert said. 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. In each instance, the death is investigated. Does the drug that could strip Medina Spirit of a Kentucky Derby win enhance performance? Baffert is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. 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. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. 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 has won the Kentucky Derby five times. Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Hes the person few in the business want to talk about, but everyone wants to hear about. 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. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) A federal judge denied Bob Baffert's request to lift his two-year suspension by Churchill Downs Inc., ruling Friday that the Hall of Fame trainer did not prove its. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. And he does know generally when to stop on a horse.. And Noodles died May 22 of a non-exercise induced respiratory issue. 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. Earlier data was unreliable, the racing publication said. 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. Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. The owners ultimately abandoned the plan after Bafferts horse, American Pharoah, won the Triple Crown that year, fearing their effort could damage the sport, one of those people said. [18] Baffert responded by saying the situation "was like a cancel culture kind of a thing," a remark which earned him noticeable criticism from the press. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. Several members of the Breeders Cup board have used Baffert as their trainer. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. The 74 total deaths since 2000 put Baffert third among trainers. followed up and ruled Baffert would not be allowed to run in New York. Between 1997 and 1999, he won the Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer three years running and was voted the 1997 Big Sport of Turfdom Award. 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. Like Baffert, Hollendorfer is in the thoroughbred Hall of Fame. Baffert has trained horses that won fifteen American Classic Races, fifteen Breeders' Cup races, four Dubai World Cups and the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. [7] Baffert became a 7-time winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2021 with Medina Spirit. Baffert told investigators he used the drug for about five years to build up his horses, which Arthur noted was unusual because it was typically used to slim them down. Medina Spirit departed Churchill Downs in a van before dawn on Monday, bound for Baltimore (a horse van, not Jeff Spicoli's VW bus ). He claimed that the horse death data provided by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was not possible.. All of the explanations for the positive drug tests are plausible, but collectively they raise questions. 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. On July 15, 2020, Deputy Attorney General Robert Petersen sent his initial case assessment to Brodnik. 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. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. Rick Baedeker, who was executive director of the CHRB before retiring last year, said the boards decisions were carefully considered to avoid treating Baffert differently than any other trainer. 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. 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. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019. ), 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. [33], In February 2022, Baffert was suspended 90 days and fined $7,500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Baffert won his first race as a thoroughbred trainer Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to a victory at Rillito in Arizona. 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. Baffert says he plans to seek legal recourse wherever necessary. 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. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. 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. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. Gagliano, the Jockey Club president, denied that the group had any knowledge of whom 5 Stones investigated, outside of the eventual indictments. Many in the racing world wondered how many times can the dog eat your homework? But Californias adoption of ARCI guidelines is not a given. Baffert made the. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. 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. He followed it with six more Derbies, two of which launched Triple Crown runs, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. 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. He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. 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. Longtime client Mike Pegram explained, "Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate himhe's a wiseass and irreverent." 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. 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. I think much of the GOP political party is moving too far to the right. 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 . Carson Valley was killed in a freak accident in 2019 at Del Mar when a loose horse crashed into the Baffert trainee. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. Bob Baffert has moved his way up the ladder to the extent that he has the most influential, the wealthiest owners in the industry, that he takes on the highest-quality horses possible because he wins races. By Marty Irby. Real Quiet won the race that year, and Baffert also finished third with Indian Charlie. Between November 2011 and March 2013, however, Baffert had seven of his horses die of sudden death, not on the race track. Ive heard the rumors on Bobby since we got in the business after winning some Cal Cup races. But a top veterinary official cleared Baffert, finding that the spate of deaths remains unexplained following a probe that demonstrated the hazards of going after Baffert. 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. But he said it wasnt clear from the records why the CHRB reversed course on filing a complaint against Baffert. Cherwa also contributes general interest stories from Florida. Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC, declined to be interviewed. He makes it clear that he believes in same-day medication and he believes in his whips, said Roberts, who has long pushed to remove whipping horses from racing. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. "We live in a different world now. A New York federal judge on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 nullified the suspension of horse trainer Bob Baffert, finding that the New York Racing Association acted unconstitutionally by failing to let him adequately respond to claims made against him after Kentucky . Baffert's attorney argued in court that the trainer's May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. Theres 10,000 other trainers who understand the absolute insurer rule and dont seem to run afoul of it, Gagliano said, referring to the edict that any substances in the horse are the trainers responsibility. 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. Its more the friendship that I miss. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. Being a horse trainer is tough enough because its such an up-and-down, emotional roller coaster, Baffert said. The 77-year-old billionaire made headlines last year when he made a $10,000 contribution to opponents of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance. 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. Hollywood Park closed in 2013, and the saga of the dead horses there faded quickly from the headlines. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. In an email Monday, Bafferts attorney, W. Craig Robertson III, referred to the CHRBs initial decision to dismiss the test and a hearing last year in which officials ruled they had no authority to overturn that decision. The substance was indeed Jimson weed. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. And he pushes the envelope to the extent that they give their lives for his bank account.. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. The legal records, which draw from dozens of emails, memorandums and other materials that have not previously been made public, show how officials delayed action, contradicted their own plans and rewrote existing rules to Bafferts advantage. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. 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 . Mick Ruis, who trained against Baffert for a couple years but now just manages his own racing business, once admired Baffert and his success, but no longer. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. 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. [10][12] However, his violations for use of prohibited medications has sparked controversy. Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance. Baffert, however, became the first trainer in history to win the Derby and Preakness in back-to-back years. His American Pharaoh horse won the Triple Crown in 2015. Arthur, the equine medical director, took issue with Petersens legal finding that the CHRBs handling of the case could be declared arbitrary or capricious. 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. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. Last October Gamine was disqualified from third to last in the Kentucky Oaks after betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory, was discovered in the horses system. 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. By then, Justify had won the Triple Crown, one of the rarest achievements in sports. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. Medina Spirit had a legal medication in him, ONeill said. Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of the second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has sued the CHRB. 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. In that period, 36% of all cardiac related horse deaths in California were animals trained by Baffert. 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. Bob had the personality and he was honest. The California Horse Racing Boards inner workings during the episode have remained mostly shrouded by official secrecy. In New York, chefs are redefining it. California keeps track of horse deaths by trainer, but there are errors and limits to the data. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has successfully appealed his 15-day suspension to the Arkansas Racing Commission, allowing the six-time Kentucky Derby winner to resume preparations to run Medina . 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. In raw numbers, most of Baffert's medication violations were for exceeding allowed amounts of authorized medications such as phenylbutazone, a pain medication commonly administered to horses. Decorated racehorse trainer who won multiple Kentucky Derbies, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. But its a lot more difficult when going against a private company, such as Churchill Downs, which can invoke its own penalties. It will all be settled by lawyers and judges and that takes time. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Testimonies have begun in the case of horse trainer Bob Baffert against Churchill Downs. 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. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. They had discussions with David Tinsley, the former DEA supervisor who runs 5 Stones, the people said, but the thoroughbred owners involved scrapped the plan. 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. 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. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. In more than four decades in the sport, Baffert has faced significant regulatory scrutiny because of a high death rate only once, after seven of his horses collapsed in a short period of time at the same California track. Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. It elicited little notice; racehorses die by the hundreds per year in California alone. [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. Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. No horse loving person like Bob or his entire team accepts the reality of a horse death with anything other than sadness and despair, the lawyers said in their statement. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . A three-member hearing panel has made the decision to suspend Hall of Fame horse trainer Bob Baffert for one year, effective immediately, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday. 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. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. He acknowledged there was no way to determine if that bale was part of the delivery to Baffert, according to the records, but the CHRB investigator nonetheless submitted the sample for testing. Bafferts record of testing failures threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby, said Bill Carstanjen, chief executive of Churchill Downs Inc. Given these repeated failures over the last year, including the increasingly extraordinary explanations, we firmly believe that asserting our rights to impose these measures is our duty and responsibility.. Grays office told the committee that removing Dr. Arthur from his position, while intentional, is not the sole purpose of the bill, records show. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. Before his Kentucky Derby-winning colt, Medina Spirit, tested positive for betamethasone last month which could erase the victory his horses were cited for drug-related violations 29 times, according to the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI). When asked about that plan, attorney Brewster said that in fact 5 Stones did investigate Baffert at the direction of the Jockey Club. Every investigation over the past 20 years has reached the same conclusion: no rules or regulations have been violated nor has there been any improper activity on Bobs part., Brewster also said that the vast majority of Bafferts drug-related violations, as tracked by ARCI, shouldnt be counted because they were too old or related to overages of otherwise-allowed drugs in a horse, which he dismissed as like coming to work with too much Advil in your system., Robertson said in an e-mail that [n]o one has done more for horse racing and is better for the sport than Bob Baffert, and he listed various awards the trainer has received, including being inducted into four separate Hall of Fames. 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. He has never apologized to the public for trashing the game. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. Racing lacks a central clearinghouse for data on deaths nationally, and regulators in many states do not track deaths by trainer. 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. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. A A Former President Donald Trump released a statement Sunday about the disputed winner of the Kentucky Derby, saying the controversy reflects the current state of the country. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. But Baffert and his lawyers had since established a reputation for pugnaciousness when regulators attempted to discipline him. Another day passed before it was discovered the colt was administered a topical ointment for a rash that contained betamethasone. LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. High Connection won the $125,000 Los Alamitos Derby by 1 3/4 lengths Saturday, giving trainer Bob Baffert his second victory on the card in his return to competition after serving a 90-day suspension. Time after time its not his fault. 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. He has not been in alliance with us, said Hancock, mentioning Bafferts many positive tests and then listing top trainers who have had one or zero positives in their career. Baffert trained Lookin At Lucky, co-owned by Mike Pegram, to win the Preakness Stakes in 2010. [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. The colt skipped the Belmont Stakes but became the champion three-year-old colt that year. He's saddled. I told him there would be nothing from CHRB before the KY Derby, unlikely before the Preakness and possibly not until after the Belmont, Arthur wrote. 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.
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