[10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. [10][12] However, his violations for use of prohibited medications has sparked controversy. This time, he aided the CHRBs search for Jimson weed. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. 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. 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. Hal Earnhardt, an Arizona car dealer and Bafferts oldest client, introduced him to Pegram, who made his money in fast-food franchising. 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. In 1997, he trained Silver Charm to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, finishing second in the Belmont. Bob had the personality and he was honest. Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. 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. "Bobby" Adair. The CHRB ruled it was caused by feed contamination, citing six other horses across four barns who also tested positive. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. It was an easy suspension to serve as Baffert was in school and not doing much training. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. Shortly after Petersen sent the analysis of the states chances, the CHRB agreed to settle Ruiss lawsuit. The trainer was Baffert. Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance.
One of the biggest assholes and cheats of all time, horse-racing [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. 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. As he did so, a political group with Baffert on its board was involved in legislation that would result in Arthur losing his job. Arthur also presented exercise histories for the horses that showed they worked harder than average. Again, we can most likely agree to most anything in Kentucky except a suspension.. Baffert, like many trainers, was using a thyroid drug that was cited in the CHRB investigation. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. What we knew about horses you could put in a thimble. Among them, according to interviews and records obtained by The Post: a push to have the veterinary official removed from office, supported by a trade group with Baffert among its directors. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy.
Hearing Officer Recommends 2-Year NYRA Ban for Bob Baffert Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. Baedeker and Arthur said in interviews that no matter how it was handled it would have been impossible to resolve the case that quickly. Bob is trying to put 2020 behind him and move forward in a positive manner, Robertson wrote in an e-mail to Borden. 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. 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. It takes only a minute or so to walk from the racetrack at Santa Anita Park to the barns in back. View . (A CHRB spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. 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 . Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina .
Bob Baffert suspended from home of Kentucky Derby after Medina - CNN 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. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. 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. 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. If the complaint was ruled on quickly enough, it would have made Justify ineligible for the Kentucky Derby. 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. After Uncle Sam, a 4-year-old colt, died during a workout at the track the following January, a vet wrote: This is the 3rd for this owner/trainer in about as many months collapsed and died.. 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. Two Triple Crown winners and a signature shock of white hair will do that for a man. ), Arthur has defended his handling of the Justify positive. 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. 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]. In his teens, he worked as a jockey for $100 a day in informal Quarter Horse races on the outskirts of Nogales. 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. CHRB regulations state that its foreign substances guidelines are based on ARCI recommendations as modified by the state board. Baffert has also had his share of horse fatalities, the other metric to which his critics point. Baffert made the. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. 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. American Pharoah next won the 140th Preakness Stakes, making six victories in that race for Baffert, who also finished fourth with Dortmund. California keeps track of horse deaths by trainer, but there are errors and limits to the data. 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. Bob Bafferts horses have incurred numerous drug violations over the course of his 44 years as a thoroughbred trainer. But Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. He's saddled. "We live in a different world now. The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Adam Gray, a former aide to Cardoza who had been in office for less than three months. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. We live and work in a fishbowl, with rumors and accusations flowing constantly, Baffert said. 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. How carefully the dosage was followed was not determined, Arthur wrote. May 10, 2021.
Trainer Bob Baffert has heart attack in Dubai - CBS News [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. The month after Gray introduced his legislation, Bafferts seventh sudden death made the deaths at Hollywood Park a national news story. Baffert said the horse was off the drug for 18 days before the race. But even in those cases, which were handled according to established rules, the horses were disqualified and their winning purses were forfeited. I went under the radar. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. [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. Grays office told the committee that removing Dr. Arthur from his position, while intentional, is not the sole purpose of the bill, records show. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. 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 74 total deaths since 2000 put Baffert third among trainers. Hes Mr. Teflon..
In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. But Baffert and his lawyers had since established a reputation for pugnaciousness when regulators attempted to discipline him. The suspension was scheduled to run March 8 through June 5. He won his first race on that 1970 afternoon but not as a trainer. I thought wed get fourth. In 2015, he trained American Pharoah, the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.. 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. . He got his first big break in 1992 when he won his first Breeder's Cup race with Thirty Slews. 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. After Arthur cleared Baffert of wrongdoing, the legislation was abandoned. He has won the Kentucky Derby five times. We went there with expectations not very high. It went exactly according to the lawyers plan. The 77-year-old billionaire made headlines last year when he made a $10,000 contribution to opponents of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. Trainer Bob Baffert celebrates after his horse, Authentic, won the Kentucky Derby in September 2020. According to Arthurs report, he found that Baffert was dispensing Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a prescription thyroid hormone, to all horses in his care. 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 horses positive test for a banned substance, according to confidential records obtained by The Washington Post that fully detail the saga for the first time. Rick Arthur, Californias medical equine director, who the documents show played a central role in the scuttling of the Justify matter, said the only part of the CHRBs handling of the case that disappointed him was the secrecy. 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. 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. 10, 2022. [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 veterinarian chalked up Bafferts response to ignorance. 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. His most serious infraction was also his first. Baffert won his first race as a thoroughbred trainer Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to a victory at Rillito in Arizona. Why would people want to be betting on horses when there are allegations and there are real positives and hes getting off on technicalities.. 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. 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. Share on Facebook TWEET This Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. 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. Nine died in 2000, all but one from breakdowns.
Medina Spirit: Bob Baffert again playing victim in drug controversy Horse owner and racing reform advocate Barry Irwin has stated, "He's Mr. Between November 2011 and March 2013, however, Baffert had seven of his horses die of sudden death, not on the race track. 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. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. Baffert won the Derby a third time in 2002 with War Emblem. He was fined $1,500.
Regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert - Los Angeles Times 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 has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. . The quest to find Jimson weed continued. was unconstitutional after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test. Robert A. Baffert is an American Racehorse Trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. 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. 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. 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. [2] Baffert and his family reside in California. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. This article was published more than1 year ago, LOS ANGELES In March 2020, horse racings most recognizable figure, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, declared that his sport was in crisis.. At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack.
Bob Baffert - Wikipedia 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. Baffert has saddled 34 horses in the Derby third-most in history since his first appearance in 1996. But in 2019, he was banned from Santa Anita Park and affiliated tracks after four of his horses died there in six months. The 5-year-old mare was the seventh seemingly healthy horse from that barn to drop dead in 16 months. The drug was again betamethasone, and Baffert again expressed shock and vowed to clear his name. Its not often that a sport turns against its biggest star, but Churchill Downs has taken that stand.
Sports team owners make huge political donations. Where does their Bob Baffert's Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know To the newspaper, she. By Marty Irby. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment.
The last stand of Bob Baffert, horse racing's top trainer - Los Angeles Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. The groom denied it. For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. 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. Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC, declined to be interviewed.
Officials worked to clear Bob Baffert's Justify after Triple Crown run The Post separately obtained start data dating back to 2000 from the Daily Racing Form to put the deaths into context. If you lose 75% of the time, youre considered really, really good. 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. 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. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. The owner was Kaleem Shah. The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of . He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. When asked about that plan, attorney Brewster said that in fact 5 Stones did investigate Baffert at the direction of the Jockey Club. 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. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . In 2012, Baffert saddled Bodemeister, named for the trainer's youngest son, Bode, to second-place finishes in the Derby and Preakness. 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.
Bob Baffert: Hall of Fame trainer suspended from participating in - CNN The consolation is knowing the truth will come out as the process plays out. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. But Californias adoption of ARCI guidelines is not a given. Only once has a Kentucky Derby winner been disqualified for a medication violation. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual.
Bob Baffert - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our country. 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. 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. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. 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. This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown, Arthur said. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. And Madeline Auerbach, who later became a CHRB commissioner, had partnered with Baffert in thoroughbred breeding.
Bob Baffert - Celebnetworth.net Baffert has paid out over $20,000 in fines, but compared against over $321 million in career earnings. The bold statement appeared to put Baffert on the right side of history: By the end of the year, President Donald Trump had signed into law the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, which promised to reform the sport.
Bob Baffert Suspended 15 Days for Drug Positives That was one of the most exciting and enjoyable Derbies, Baffert said. Baffert trained Lookin At Lucky, co-owned by Mike Pegram, to win the Preakness Stakes in 2010. However, Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone. Baffert has had two fatalities in the last three years, a low number for a barn of his size. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. Baffert was suspended by the NYRA on May 17 -- a big deal as it barred the legendary horse trainer from entering into the prestigious June 5 Belmont Stakes race. 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. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested.
EXPLAINER: Why Is Bob Baffert Not in the Kentucky Derby? Bob Baffert has supporters and detractors in how he deals with jockeys Bob survived a heart attack in late March 2012 while in Dubai for a world-class race at Meydan. Cherwa also contributes general interest stories from Florida. 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. 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. The new classification simply makes more sense pharmacologically, Arthur wrote. 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. But Arthurs report said Hollywood Park used a different sort of poison than that found in the necropsy. The board followed their recommendation. Another person who came to Bafferts defense was his former assistant Tim Yakteen, who now runs his own stable. 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.. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. 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..