It went exactly according to the lawyers plan. Baffert is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. He finished third in the Derby that year with Congaree. He got his first big break in 1992 when he won his first Breeder's Cup race with Thirty Slews. Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. Even then, he would not talk about the specifics of the cases against him. Former Democratic congressman Dennis Cardoza, also on the board, was co-owner with Pegram of Shakin It Up, a successful thoroughbred trained by Baffert. It bothers me when hes not considered the Kentucky Derby winner.. The. The way this case was handled was out of respect for Justify., On the afternoon of April 18, 2018, Arthur learned that Justify and another Baffert horse, Hoppertunity, had tested positive for scopolamine. [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. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks. But hes Bob, he has to speak his mind.. He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. All of the explanations for the positive drug tests are plausible, but collectively they raise questions. [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. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. 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. 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. Political Cartoons. Horse owner and racing reform advocate Barry Irwin has stated, "He's Mr. For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. Baffert has also had his share of horse fatalities, the other metric to which his critics point. Once the golden boy of horse racing, Bob Baffert now the face of its disgrace. But its a lot more difficult when going against a private company, such as Churchill Downs, which can invoke its own penalties. Baffert has trained horses that won fifteen American Classic Races, fifteen Breeders' Cup races, four Dubai World Cups and the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. The colt lost the Belmont Stakes after breaking poorly from the starting gate. The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Adam Gray, a former aide to Cardoza who had been in office for less than three months. 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. I believe there is some precedent in criminal law when a law is changed from a felony to a misdemeanor how they should be prosecuted even before the new law becomes effective, wrote Arthur, whose job before medical equine director was as a racetrack veterinarian. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. Baffert grew up on a ranch in Nogales, Arizona, where his family raised cattle and chickens. Baffert won his first race as a thoroughbred trainer Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to a victory at Rillito in Arizona. Trainer Bob Baffert celebrates after his horse, Authentic, won the Kentucky Derby in September 2020. The CHRB officially opened an investigation. The cluster of sudden deaths remains unexplained and there was no evidence whatsoever CHRB rules or regulations have been violated or any illicit activity played a part in the deaths, Arthurs report concluded. 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. California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. The month after Gray introduced his legislation, Bafferts seventh sudden death made the deaths at Hollywood Park a national news story. 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. This included Baffert's home track at Santa Anita, although Baffert horse Shaaz won the sixth race on April 2. Clark Brewster, a nationally known trial attorney who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her defamation suit against President Trump, will be Bafferts attorney in any litigation against Churchill Downs. On a recent afternoon, Baffert appeared largely unperturbed by the firestorm surrounding him when he answered his door in Arcadia, Calif. This is the first Ive learned of it, Baffert responded when told of The Posts finding that he had the highest rate of horse deaths among other top trainers in the state. [33], In February 2022, Baffert was suspended 90 days and fined $7,500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Ive heard the rumors on Bobby since we got in the business after winning some Cal Cup races. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. Does his love of the camera sometimes bite him? asked longtime owner and friend Mike Pegram. 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. Attorneys for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert argued in a Kentucky court Thursday that a 90-day suspension imposed by the state's racing commission would essentially end his career. Please answer some questions in this short survey about professional soccer and the 2022 Men's FIFA World Cup. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. 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. Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. Nine died in 2000, all but one from breakdowns. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. 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. In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. Baffert dedicated American Pharoah's win to Bobby. 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. You could trust him and that never changed.. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. There wasnt any question in my mind, he said recently. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of . In 2000, for instance, another of his horses, Nautical Look, tested positive for morphine, landing Baffert a two-month suspension. He views himself as an ambassador for the sport. According to Arthurs report, he found that Baffert was dispensing Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a prescription thyroid hormone, to all horses in his care. 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. to move forward. Petersen did not respond to an interview request. His most serious infraction was also his first. Horse trainer Bob Baffert, left, leaves federal court in Brooklyn on July 12. (The trainer and jockey usually get 10 percent each.) Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. The 74 total deaths since 2000 put Baffert third among trainers. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. Baffert is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, and has several top prospects for the May 5 race. His last day as medical equine director is Wednesday. [42] He had been paid $200,000 to allow the Burger King to stand behind him in the grandstand during the televised broadcast of the Belmont, after having turned down $150,000 to allow the mascot to appear with him at the Preakness. The week after Justify won the Preakness, bringing him to the cusp of the Triple Crown, test results came back showing the plant they had tested was milkweed. 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. 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. This whole thing is ridiculous, Baffert texted back, according to messages obtained by The Post via public records request. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. Kentucky regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test. He has also won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes once. 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. 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. It elicited little notice; racehorses die by the hundreds per year in California alone. A 23-page analysis of that case, sent to the CHRB by a California deputy attorney general in July and obtained by The Post, suggests the states lawyers were concerned about the way the agency responded to the failed drug test. No sanctions were issued against Baffert.[40][41]. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. 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. [2] Baffert and his family reside in California. Teflon."[11]. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. [35], The most notable cases prior to Medina Spirit's test was the disqualification of Gamine after a third place finish in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, also for betamethasone,[36] and Triple Crown winner Justify, who tested positive for scopolamine after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, but the results did not become public until after the horse won the Triple Crown. [2] His first winner was Flipper Star at Rillito Park on January 28, 1979. Its more the friendship that I miss. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. 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 each instance, the death is investigated. This was fun. The timing of the legislation was coincidental, he added: I understand where youre going and why, but there were no connections, from my perspective., Brewster, attorney for Medina Spirits owner, also said that Bafferts issue with Arthur was about Lasix and that the timing was irrelevant.. What I can tell you definitely is this case was handled differently, and it was handled differently because of Rick Arthur, said Ruiss attorney, Darrell Vienna. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. 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 . He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. Baffert won the Derby a third time in 2002 with War Emblem. "[23] On June 2, 2021, Medina Spirit's split sample also tested positive and Churchill Downs suspended Baffert through the end of the 2023 Spring Meet. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. 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. 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.. Share on Facebook TWEET This 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. Then, when American Pharoah won the 2015 Belmont Stakes, the win was the fourth attempt at a Triple Crown for Baffert, who at age 62 became the second-oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown.[6]. Baffert, like many trainers, was using a thyroid drug that was cited in the CHRB investigation. Brewster alleged, without providing evidence, that the Jockey Club directed 5 Stones to investigate anybody who doesnt train for them and wins a lot of races and might run in racetracks they dont run at., You know what the conclusion was? Brewster said of the alleged private investigation into Baffert. Baffert, a La Caada Flintridge resident who is currently training his horses at Santa Anita, has not officially been charged with anything related to Medina Spirit. That investigation led to the indictments that Baffert said spurred him to embrace more oversight, so the cheaters would be quickly caught and punished.. As The Post reported in April, the Jockey Club, an industry group of top thoroughbred owners, then hired the same private agency, 5 Stones Intelligence, to probe suspected dopers. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. Baffert, however, became the first trainer in history to win the Derby and Preakness in back-to-back years. In a scheme typical of the high-stakes warring behind the scenes in racing, four thoroughbred owners entered talks in 2015 with a private intelligence agency to dig up drug-related dirt on Baffert, according to multiple people with direct knowledge. Racing does not have a historical database for violations, with most of the information kept on the state level. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) 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. Baffert was granted a stay until April 4 to gain time for an appeal. If you lose 75% of the time, youre considered really, really good. But in this case, Arthur urged a lighter penalty based on his suggestion the CHRB downgrade the drug. 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. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. 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. 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. 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. When Arthur delivered his report in November 2013, the bill to remove him from office was still pending. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested. 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 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. 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. The winner's share of the $600 purse was $330. 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. This article was published more than1 year ago. Four months after that, in May 2014, Arthur issued an advisory that the CHRB was concerned by the apparently indiscriminate use of thyroxine and that the drug must be prescribed for a specific horse for a specific condition. Arthur told The Post that the advisory was a result of the Baffert investigation. . Baffert, however, wouldnt change the outcome. Bob is trying to put 2020 behind him and move forward in a positive manner, Robertson wrote in an e-mail to Borden. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. 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. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. 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. Last October Gamine was disqualified from third to last in the Kentucky Oaks after betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory, was discovered in the horses system. 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. Yeah, but thats what drives him. 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. Wizards show plenty of heart early but cant find an edge late in Chicago. This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown, Arthur said. "[29][30] On September 10, 2021 Baffert was charged by NYRA for conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. I dont see somebody who is doping horses, Martin said after reviewing Bafferts drug-related history. 10, 2022. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. Some of the horses that have died have been my horses, and on each and every instance, I have spoken to Bob and Ive been more than satisfied with the explanation, Shah said. followed up and ruled Baffert would not be allowed to run in New York. Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. In 2021, the post-race test of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit showed 21pg/mL of betamethasone. In 2013 the group hosted a Lasix-focused event at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills at which one owner reportedly said running a race without the drug was like waterboarding your horse in their own blood.. [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point. Asked whether he was surprised by the finding that Bafferts barn was the deadliest in California, Roberts laughed. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. Medina Spirit had a legal medication in him, ONeill said. Hes Mr. Teflon.. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. It basically said something under his control is associated with these fatalities, Arthur said, but regulators couldnt act without evidence of a rules violation.
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