After Arthur cleared Baffert of wrongdoing, the legislation was abandoned. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. During a hearing, records show, Baffert argued the positive test could have been a result of his stable hands eating poppy seed bagels and muffins around the horse. Mr. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. (Arthur and those involved with the bill said the actions were unrelated. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . "We live in a different world now. 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. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. The last stand of Bob Baffert, horse racing's top trainer - Los Angeles 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. He saddled Paynter in the Belmont Stakes later that year, but that colt, like his stablemate Bodemeister, finished second. This time, he aided the CHRBs search for Jimson weed. In his teens, he worked as a jockey for $100 a day in informal Quarter Horse races on the outskirts of Nogales. 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. 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.. 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. 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. Scopolamine, Baedeker wrote, can be injected but very often is the result of feed or straw that has been contaminated with Jimson weed., Arthur had previously suggested he didnt consider Jimson weed contamination to be a serious threat, writing in a 2016 memo that the likelihood under our current procedures of getting a positive from environmental contamination is rather low. In an interview this week, Arthur said he meant that such incidences were infrequent but said that in California, if you have a scopolamine positive, its going to be associated with Jimson weed thats just the reality of it., On April 26, records show, Arthur emailed CHRB officials that he had talked to Bob and informed him the proceedings would not immediately interfere with Justifys Triple Crown schedule. Its all because of his success.. 10, 2022. Yeah, but thats what drives him. Once the golden boy of horse racing, Bob Baffert now the face of its disgrace. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. [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. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. Bob Baffert - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times To the newspaper, she. Another day passed before it was discovered the colt was administered a topical ointment for a rash that contained betamethasone. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. Cherwa also contributes general interest stories from Florida. The majority of the deaths in Bafferts care are attributed to breakdowns, though others have died suddenly without explanation and some of the horses suffered illness including his most recent death, Noodles, in May where pneumonia was the suspected cause. Arthur indicated in his report that thyroxine was suspected to cause heart problems for horses during exercise, and at least four of the sudden deaths involved confirmed or suspected cardiac failure. 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. 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 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. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. According to Arthurs report, he found that Baffert was dispensing Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a prescription thyroid hormone, to all horses in his care. 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. . There are no secrets on the backside.. 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. He claimed the boards cover up cost him damages including the $400,000 difference between the first-place and second-place purses in the Santa Anita Derby. 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 . In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. It didnt take Baffert long to dominate Rillito Park and Prescott Downs in Arizona. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. At least 74 horses have died in Bafferts care in his home state of California since 2000, more than all but two of hundreds of trainers in the state, according to a Post analysis of data and public records. 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. But in this case, Arthur urged a lighter penalty based on his suggestion the CHRB downgrade the drug. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. I told him I thought there was a good indication that these were feed contamination.. What we knew about horses you could put in a thimble. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. [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 declined to answer further questions. Many in the racing world wondered how many times can the dog eat your homework? [19][20] On May 11, Baffert stated Medina Spirit had dermatitis, for which an ointment containing betamethasone was used. In a written decision, the stewards stated the CHRB has already ruled on this matter in its August 2018 closed hearing and had followed the law., However, the stewards suggested they would not have made the same decision as the CHRB: It is the Stewards opinion that had this Board of Stewards heard the Justify and Hoppertunity complaints prior to August 23, 2018 both horses would have been disqualified., Ruiss lawyers have since argued in court for the settlement to be rescinded because the stewards refused to make a decision on the merits., I remain convinced that justice has not yet been served, Vienna told The Post, and that hopefully the courts will resolve the matter., The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. 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. [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. 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. Robert A. Baffert is an American Racehorse Trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Nothing is held back.. 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. Less than two weeks later, Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. One of the biggest assholes and cheats of all time, horse-racing When Arthur delivered his report in November 2013, the bill to remove him from office was still pending. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. Ruis horse, Bolt dOro, finished second. 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. "We live in a different world now. The consolation is knowing the truth will come out as the process plays out. Arthur called Bafferts blanket use of thyroxine troublesome and said at the meeting, I havent found an example of a barn that uses it in all their horses like Baffert does. Yet he determined that the drug wasnt to blame for the deaths. 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. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. 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. Finding a new director every two to four years would cost $300,000 each time, a committee that analyzed the bill found. 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. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack. The new classification simply makes more sense pharmacologically, Arthur wrote. That was one of the most exciting and enjoyable Derbies, Baffert said. Hearing Officer Recommends 2-Year NYRA Ban for Bob Baffert 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. 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. They had a son in 2004 whom they named "Bode" (/bodi/ BOH-dee), after skier Bode Miller. But hes a good person, no, a great person. The month after that, Grays bill to limit Arthurs term was passed out of a committee. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. Bob Baffert wins big in return from long suspension - Spectrum News 1 Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate him, Pegram said. 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. View . 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. 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. Gagliano, the Jockey Club president, denied that the group had any knowledge of whom 5 Stones investigated, outside of the eventual indictments. Baffert did not win another classic race until 2001, when he won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with eventual Hall of Fame member Point Given. Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. The California Horse Racing Boards inner workings during the episode have remained mostly shrouded by official secrecy. But they dont usually die in a cluster from a single barn for no clear reason. [15], At a news conference on May 9, Baffert initially said that Medina Spirit was never administered betamethasone. 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. You could trust him and that never changed.. Bob is trying to put 2020 behind him and move forward in a positive manner, Robertson wrote in an e-mail to Borden. A recent conversation about the tragedy of horse deaths wended its way back to the defense of his reputation. 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. . But until now, those violations, some of which Baffert has succeeded in getting overturned or reduced, have resulted in roughly $20,000 in fines against $321 million in career earnings. This article was published more than1 year ago. In a recent interview, Arthur described his findings as damning for Baffert, in particular analysis in his report showing that, over a six-year period, Bafferts horses were nine times more likely to die of sudden death than the average trainers. EXPLAINER: Why is Bob Baffert not in the Kentucky Derby? - Spectrum News 1 The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. Arkansas racing officials vote not to suspend Bob Baffert - ESPN.com 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. Baffert grew up on a ranch in Nogales, Arizona, where his family raised cattle and chickens. [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point. In winning the 141st Kentucky Derby, bringing his total number of victories in the race to four; Baffert also ran the third-place finisher, the previously undefeated colt Dortmund. 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. 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. 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. As he did so, a political group with Baffert on its board was involved in legislation that would result in Arthur losing his job. He finished third in the Derby that year with Congaree. ), Among the TOCs central crusades was countering the movement against Lasix. [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. On at least 14 occasions, Baffert has been caught racing a horse with more than the allowable amount of bute in its system, according to a review of ARCI data, making it his most common offense. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. His American Pharaoh horse won the Triple Crown in 2015. 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. [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. 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.
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