A CHRB investigator, searching for Jimson weed, had found a leafy substance at Santa Anita Park, the records show, and following the Derby, Arthur and the CHRBs lawyer agreed to have it tested. We went there with expectations not very high. If they didnt adopt those rules, the rules that prevail are the ones they adopted.. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. The month after Gray introduced his legislation, Bafferts seventh sudden death made the deaths at Hollywood Park a national news story. He appeared in an episode of the TV show Take Home Chef. Baffert's horses have won seven Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks. Trainer Bob Baffert celebrates after his horse, Authentic, won the Kentucky Derby in September 2020. 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 2021, the post-race test of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit showed 21pg/mL of betamethasone. "[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. You wouldnt know it now.. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. 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. 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. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc . He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. 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. ), Arthur has defended his handling of the Justify positive. 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. 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.. As the trainer battles to protect his legacy, the records offer a new window into how those charged with running horse racings disjointed regulatory system have appeared to treat the powerful trainer with deference. CHRB brass agreed to follow Arthurs suggestion. 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. Baffert has paid out over $20,000 in fines, but compared against over $321 million in career earnings. 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. Baffert claims the defendants have "unlawfully deprived and will continue to deprive Baffert of his right to due process of law guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment and of his right to. Baffert said the horse was off the drug for 18 days before the race. Baffert made the. And he does know generally when to stop on a horse.. Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. [10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. When asked about that plan, attorney Brewster said that in fact 5 Stones did investigate Baffert at the direction of the Jockey Club. And promote he does, chatting with people he met one minute ago as if they were long-lost friends. This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown, Arthur said. 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. 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. The TOC, of which Baffert is still a board member, did not respond to requests for comment. 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. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. To me, whats in the best interest of the sport is not seeing anyone being dogpiled on.. was unconstitutional after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test. 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. 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. Baffert sued in federal court, claiming the two months off could cost him $11 million in purses. The Jockey Club has a database of thoroughbred breakdowns meaning deaths stemming from track injuries but said it is barred from sharing its data because of its contracts with racetracks. American Pharoah next won the 140th Preakness Stakes, making six victories in that race for Baffert, who also finished fourth with Dortmund. He won his first race on that 1970 afternoon but not as a trainer. Unlike a normal day at the races, Bafferts fate will not be decided by a photo-finish camera or the actions of a jockey aboard a 1,000-pound animal. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our country. 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. By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. "We live in a different world now. The board followed their recommendation. 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. 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. Less than two weeks later, Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. Without that win, Justify would not have qualified to run in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, a month later. He made the jump to Los Alamitos, where he was running against such legends as Wayne Lukas. He's a cheat and an asshole, and I hope Medina Spirit gets taken down and his connections are denied the $1.8 million first-place check. Ruis horse, Bolt dOro, finished second. 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. By Marty Irby. His last day as medical equine director is Wednesday. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. In 1977, as a part-time trainer, he was suspended for a year when one of his horses tested positive for morphine. 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. 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. California keeps track of horse deaths by trainer, but there are errors and limits to the data. . 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. That was one of the most exciting and enjoyable Derbies, Baffert said. He got his first big break in 1992 when he won his first Breeder's Cup race with Thirty Slews. Baffert was fined $10,000. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. 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. Why would people want to be betting on horses when there are allegations and there are real positives and hes getting off on technicalities.. Another person who came to Bafferts defense was his former assistant Tim Yakteen, who now runs his own stable. In the past three years, there were 188 deaths involving either racing or training in California. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. He has won the Kentucky Derby five times. LOS ANGELES In 2018, as star trainer Bob Baffert led his thoroughbred Justify to the Triple Crown, California regulators embarked on a secret effort to exonerate Baffert after the horse's. As he did so, a political group with Baffert on its board was involved in legislation that would result in Arthur losing his job. Baffert was granted a stay until April 4 to gain time for an appeal. 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. Kaleem Shah, an owner who split with Baffert in 2016, defended the trainer over the horse deaths. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. Closing everything and moving forward is in Bobs best interest and the best interest of horse racing. The longest his suspension from Kentucky would be is 30 days, which would be honored by all racing jurisdictions. 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. The testing levels have become ridiculous, Baffert told a conference of racehorse veterinarians during his keynote speech in 2000, according to a trade publication. The new classification simply makes more sense pharmacologically, Arthur wrote. 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. View . From there, he moved to racing at recognized tracks, scoring his first victory at age 17 in 1970. There wasnt any question in my mind, he said recently. In that period, 36% of all cardiac related horse deaths in California were animals trained by Baffert. Earlier data was unreliable, the racing publication said. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. 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. The deadliest period came between 2000 and 2005, when 34 of Bafferts horses in California died. 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 faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. In February 2013, with Bafferts Hollywood Park sudden-death toll at six and Californias equine medical director, Rick Arthur, probing his barns operations, state legislation was introduced that would place term limits on Arthurs position, eventually forcing him out of a $309,000-a-year job. But they dont usually die in a cluster from a single barn for no clear reason. Theres a recognition that certain substances are normal in equine care, Martin said, but if that horse still requires that, then maybe you shouldnt run the horse., Martin made a distinction between doping horses with banned substances and running them with too much medication. The CHRB officially opened an investigation. Mr. The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. The New York Racing Assn. 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." He followed it with six more Derbies, two of which launched Triple Crown runs, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. The winner's share of the $600 purse was $330. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. In 1997, he trained Silver Charm to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, finishing second in the Belmont. He claimed that the horse death data provided by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was not possible.. Medina Spirit had a legal medication in him, ONeill said. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. But by August, the plan had changed. Racing lacks a central clearinghouse for data on deaths nationally, and regulators in many states do not track deaths by trainer. But even in those cases, which were handled according to established rules, the horses were disqualified and their winning purses were forfeited. 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. On May 5, Justify won the Kentucky Derby, upping the stakes of the investigation. [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. "[29][30] On September 10, 2021 Baffert was charged by NYRA for conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing.
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