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. 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.. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. The month after Gray introduced his legislation, Bafferts seventh sudden death made the deaths at Hollywood Park a national news story. 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. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. Baffert was fined $10,000. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Shortly after Petersen sent the analysis of the states chances, the CHRB agreed to settle Ruiss lawsuit. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. 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. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our equine and human athletes, Baffert wrote, and nothing impacts their health and safety more than the policies and procedures concerning drugs.. 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. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. We have a real conundrum to sort out, Arthur wrote in an email to top CHRB officials, explaining he believed a disqualification would be terribly unfair. More than a year earlier, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, which creates model rules for the sports various state bodies, had reclassified scopolamine from a 3/B to a 4/C drug. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. Medina Spirit departed Churchill Downs in a van before dawn on Monday, bound for Baltimore (a horse van, not Jeff Spicoli's VW bus ). The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of . By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Adam Gray, a former aide to Cardoza who had been in office for less than three months. Again, we can most likely agree to most anything in Kentucky except a 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. 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. 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. But in the most recent election in June, he finished seventh of eight, the only incumbent beaten. 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 . Baffert made the. Arthur also presented exercise histories for the horses that showed they worked harder than average. 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. Racing does not have a historical database for violations, with most of the information kept on the state level. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . 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. I thought wed get fourth. The 5-year-old mare was the seventh seemingly healthy horse from that barn to drop dead in 16 months. Baffert has saddled 34 horses in the Derby third-most in history since his first appearance in 1996. Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. 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." Four months later, during a confidential executive session, Arthur and CHRB Director Rick Baedeker recommended that the commissioners not move forward with the disqualification of Justify, arguing that the scopolamine positive was probably the result of contamination from jimson weed. Baffert has paid out over $20,000 in fines, but compared against over $321 million in career earnings. Hes the person few in the business want to talk about, but everyone wants to hear about. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. Another person who came to Bafferts defense was his former assistant Tim Yakteen, who now runs his own stable. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. 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. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. He told reporters that he would fight the issue "tooth and nail. Racing officials ruled that the positive test was a result of contamination and the wins of Charlatan and Gamine were restored. By Marty Irby. The groom denied it. The first two infractions occurred in May 2020, when the horses Charlatan and Gamine tested positive in Arkansas for lidocaine, a numbing agent. By then, Arthur already had a years-long, tangled history with Baffert. In the settlement, which records show did not include monetary damages, CHRB agreed to file a complaint against Justify. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. Baffert is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, and has several top prospects for the May 5 race. But in 2019, he was banned from Santa Anita Park and affiliated tracks after four of his horses died there in six months. [9] Point Given was nominated in 2009, but elected and inducted in 2010. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. (A CHRB spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. 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. And the Breeders Cup, which will be held Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar, has indicated it will soon make a decision on Bafferts eligibility to run in those championship races. In fact, at some point Id like to get back together with Bob, Shah said. The trainer was fined $2,500. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. "We live in a different world now. As he did so, a political group with Baffert on its board was involved in legislation that would result in Arthur losing his job. 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. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. This pattern has bred frustration among some horsemen. The TOC, of which Baffert is still a board member, did not respond to requests for comment. He has won the Kentucky Derby five times. CNN Hall of Fame horse trainer Bob Baffert will miss the Kentucky Derby for a second straight year after a federal judge denied his request to have a two-year ban by Churchill Downs Inc.. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our country. 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]. 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. 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 . 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). 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. By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. 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. The 90 day ban against Baffert was set to be honored in all 38 racing states. He saddled Paynter in the Belmont Stakes later that year, but that colt, like his stablemate Bodemeister, finished second. (The trainer and jockey usually get 10 percent each.) "We live in a different world now. The owner was Kaleem Shah. Real Quiet won the race that year, and Baffert also finished third with Indian Charlie. Kentucky regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test. 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. 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. Bafferts breakthrough thoroughbred was Thirty Slews, who won the Breeders Cup Sprint in 1992. In 2015, a loose group of prominent thoroughbred owners hatched a plan according to people with direct knowledge of it to sic private eyes, from a firm called 5 Stones that helped bring down Russian dopers, on their sports most famous trainer. If you lose 75% of the time, youre considered really, really good. 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. 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. He paused, then added: Ive learned who my friends are.. Baedeker and Arthur said in interviews that no matter how it was handled it would have been impossible to resolve the case that quickly. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Baffert wrote that reforming racing was not just necessary to the sports survival but the only moral path forward. Baffert also has wielded unmatched clout when regulators have discovered banned or excessive substances in his horses. With private eyes and political muscle, horse racings elite pushed to punish dopers, Bob Baffert, long horse racings irreverent king, sits on a precarious throne, Bob Baffert, banned from racing horses in New York, sues states racing association. Even then, he would not talk about the specifics of the cases against him. Nothing is held back.. Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate him, Pegram said. In the next six months, three of his horses tested positive for banned or excessive substances four times in California, Arkansas and Kentucky. 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. At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack. Its just disheartening. ), Among the TOCs central crusades was countering the movement against Lasix. When asked about that plan, attorney Brewster said that in fact 5 Stones did investigate Baffert at the direction of the Jockey Club. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. In the 1980s, Baffert moved to California and worked at Los Alamitos Race Course, where he switched to training Thoroughbreds full-time in 1991. The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. Currently, his major coverage area is horse racing, where he can be found at big races at Santa Anita, the Triple Crown series and Breeders Cup. . Baffert said the horse was off the drug for 18 days before the race. 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. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . 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. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . And he pushes the envelope to the extent that they give their lives for his bank account.. It was then that Baffert, one of the most accessible trainers in horse racing, stopped talking until this week. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. In the court of public opinion, hes a big loser, said Barry Irwin, owner of racing group Team Valor and an outspoken critic of race-day medication and Baffert. 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. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. Its all because of his success.. FILE - Trainer Bob Baffert walks out to the winner's circle after the Brooklyn Invitational Stakes horse race at Belmont Park, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Elmont, N.Y. . Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. 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.. We live and work in a fishbowl, with rumors and accusations flowing constantly, Baffert said. Without that win, Justify would not have qualified to run in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, a month later. Tinsley declined to comment. But even in those cases, which were handled according to established rules, the horses were disqualified and their winning purses were forfeited. 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. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019. The scheme involved digging up drug-related dirt on Baffert and then telling him that the evidence could disappear tomorrow if he were to endorse the federal reforms of the sport, one of the people said. In 1997, he trained Silver Charm to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, finishing second in the Belmont. 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. In 2007, he joined the 15-member board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), a nonprofit that represents the roughly 9,000 CHRB-licensed owners in the state. I told him I thought there was a good indication that these were feed contamination.. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. [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. Horse trainer Bob Baffert, left, leaves federal court in Brooklyn on July 12. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. 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. 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. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. 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. 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. Hes Mr. Teflon.. He made the jump to Los Alamitos, where he was running against such legends as Wayne Lukas. Yeah, but thats what drives him. 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. The Baffert who snubbed me on April 29, 2010, that is the real Bob Baffert, not the glib, seemingly affable chap heretofore seen in TV interviews. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. Baffert's history in the American classic races began in 1996 when he trained a three-year-old colt named Cavonnier, who ran second in the Kentucky Derby. That investigation led to the indictments that Baffert said spurred him to embrace more oversight, so the cheaters would be quickly caught and punished.. He was fined $1,500. 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. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. His primary attorney is Craig Robertson, who represents him in all regulatory matters, but he has recused himself from any action against Churchill Downs because his law firm does business with the company, creating a conflict of interest. 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.. 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. The public backlash, including a letter written by a gay. Gray said at the time that the bill also would increase the institutional knowledge of Californias central horse drug-testing lab. 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. 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. Arthur is retiring at the end of June from a job often consumed by the scandals of a single trainer. When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. But Californias adoption of ARCI guidelines is not a given. But the star trainers sudden support belied the fact that Baffert has for years been entangled with the very problems he blamed for his sports potential demise: drugs, dead horses and a feckless regulatory system. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. He claimed that the horse death data provided by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was not possible.. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. Baffert, however, became the first trainer in history to win the Derby and Preakness in back-to-back years. Horse trainer Bob Baffert, left, leaves federal court in Brooklyn on July 12. 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. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. "[29][30] On September 10, 2021 Baffert was charged by NYRA for conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing. Thats much higher than the Jockey Clubs widely cited national rates, which never exceed two deaths per 1,000 starts. 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. The trainer was Baffert. 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.). 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. California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. Hal Earnhardt, an Arizona car dealer and Bafferts oldest client, introduced him to Pegram, who made his money in fast-food franchising. . 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. 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 complaint is filed in every case where the split sample confirms the original laboratory finding, read an advisory on the CHRB website. [43] At the post-Belmont press conference, Baffert announced he and his wife would be making donations of $50,000 each to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), and Old Friends Equine, all programs for retired race horses; and to the Permanently Disabled Jockey's Fund in memory of a Quarter Horse Jockey named Robert Z. In response to public records requests in Maryland, New Jersey and Kentucky, officials told The Post that they did not maintain digital records of horse deaths by trainer, instead keeping reams of copies of reports. Between November 2011 and March 2013, however, Baffert had seven of his horses die of sudden death, not on the race track. The. (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) Time after time its not his fault. His graded stakes wins include nine wins in the Santa Anita Derby, nine in the Haskell Invitational Handicap, and fourteen in the Del Mar Futurity, a race he won seven straight times from 1996 to 2002, when it was a Grade II event. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. His last day as medical equine director is Wednesday. 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. In each instance, the death is investigated. 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 . But its a lot more difficult when going against a private company, such as Churchill Downs, which can invoke its own penalties. 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.
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