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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 . 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. But hes a good person, no, a great person. In the past three years, there were 188 deaths involving either racing or training in California. 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. They had a son in 2004 whom they named "Bode" (/bodi/ BOH-dee), after skier Bode Miller. The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. In the next six months, three of his horses tested positive for banned or excessive substances four times in California, Arkansas and Kentucky. Arthur and CHRB investigators inspected Bafferts barn, reviewed veterinary records and interviewed Baffert, who was flanked by an attorney. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. . Brodnik presented the board with a two-page memo stating an extensive investigation was conducted and the evidence proves that this was an environmental contamination incident. Baedeker and Arthur recommended the pending matters against Baffert be dismissed, according to the states legal analysis. [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 deadliest period came between 2000 and 2005, when 34 of Bafferts horses in California died. From there, he moved to racing at recognized tracks, scoring his first victory at age 17 in 1970. 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. . 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. We might have gone to the board sooner, but obviously because of the high-profile nature of this thing we were making sure we had everything buttoned up, he said. Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. This was fun. And Madeline Auerbach, who later became a CHRB commissioner, had partnered with Baffert in thoroughbred breeding. There wasnt any question in my mind, he said recently. In correspondence with the agencys lawyer, Baedeker wrote that because our staff failed to act in a timely manner, the horses, trainer, owner and others could be harmed unjustly if they didnt use the more lenient classification. Ive heard the rumors on Bobby since we got in the business after winning some Cal Cup races. Baffert is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, and has several top prospects for the May 5 race. A complaint is filed in every case where the split sample confirms the original laboratory finding, read an advisory on the CHRB website. It wasn't long after the running of the 123rd Kentucky Derby, where a grey . Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. 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. [39] California's equine medical director found that Baffert's horses were routinely given Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a thyroid hormone, that could cause heart problems during exercise, but concluded the medication, which Baffert said he had been using routinely for the previous five years, did not cause the heart attacks. 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. The first two infractions occurred in May 2020, when the horses Charlatan and Gamine tested positive in Arkansas for lidocaine, a numbing agent. The month after Gray introduced his legislation, Bafferts seventh sudden death made the deaths at Hollywood Park a national news story. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. 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. But in 2019, he was banned from Santa Anita Park and affiliated tracks after four of his horses died there in six months. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. Usually, regulatory agencies do not have the guts to do whats fair and right, Arthur testified during a CHRB hearing in October, and this board made that decision appropriately., He conceded that the lack of transparency was unusual. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. Hes good.. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. None of them are considered performance-enhancing in the traditional sense, such as amphetamines or speedballs. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. [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. The board followed their recommendation. 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. The substance was indeed Jimson weed. 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. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. 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. Bob survived a heart attack in late March 2012 while in Dubai for a world-class race at Meydan. ), Arthur has defended his handling of the Justify positive. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. The owner was Kaleem Shah. 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. . 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. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019. 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. 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. Mr. It didnt take Baffert long to dominate Rillito Park and Prescott Downs in Arizona. The 5-year-old mare was the seventh seemingly healthy horse from that barn to drop dead in 16 months. 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. The hearing for a preliminary injunction began in federal court on Thursday afternoon, continuing a nearly two-year-long legal battle between Baffert and the racetrack following his suspension back in 2021. 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. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. Horse trainer Bob Baffert, left, leaves federal court in Brooklyn on July 12. Baffert has trained horses that won fifteen American Classic Races, fifteen Breeders' Cup races, four Dubai World Cups and the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. "[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. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. [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. [9] Point Given was nominated in 2009, but elected and inducted in 2010. Following the 2015 Belmont win, Baffert outlined several charities that he and his wife Jill supported. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. Nine died in 2000, all but one from breakdowns. But the sports new governing authority will not take over until mid-2022. In 1997, he trained Silver Charm to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, finishing second in the Belmont. It sounds like hes deflecting, Gagliano said of Baffert. Baffert dedicated American Pharoah's win to Bobby. Baffert's attorney argued in court that the trainer's May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. The longest his suspension from Kentucky would be is 30 days, which would be honored by all racing jurisdictions. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. Carson Valley was killed in a freak accident in 2019 at Del Mar when a loose horse crashed into the Baffert trainee. In the 1980s, Baffert moved to California and worked at Los Alamitos Race Course, where he switched to training Thoroughbreds full-time in 1991. I thought wed get fourth. 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.. 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 board agreed not to disqualify Justify. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. The colt went on to win the Preakness Stakes, giving the trainer his third shot at winning the Triple Crown. 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. But Arthurs report said Hollywood Park used a different sort of poison than that found in the necropsy. California keeps track of horse deaths by trainer, but there are errors and limits to the data. We went there with expectations not very high. I told him I thought there was a good indication that these were feed contamination.. 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. It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. [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. Former Democratic congressman Dennis Cardoza, also on the board, was co-owner with Pegram of Shakin It Up, a successful thoroughbred trained by Baffert. 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. Horse owner and racing reform advocate Barry Irwin has stated, "He's Mr. The trainer was Baffert. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. Kaleem Shah, an owner who split with Baffert in 2016, defended the trainer over the horse deaths. 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. This pattern has bred frustration among some horsemen. On June 2, with the Belmont Stakes a week away, the owner of a feed operation showed up at the CHRB office carrying plant samples he said he found more than a month earlier, the records show. 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. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. On Monday, Bell confirmed he helped with the search, adding Jimson weed has plagued California for years.. 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. CHRB regulations state that its foreign substances guidelines are based on ARCI recommendations as modified by the state board. 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. The 77-year-old billionaire made headlines last year when he made a $10,000 contribution to opponents of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance. When Arthur delivered his report in November 2013, the bill to remove him from office was still pending. But in this case, Arthur urged a lighter penalty based on his suggestion the CHRB downgrade the drug. 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. Citrus Feed Companys Larry Bell has long supplied Baffert with feed and has previously testified in Bafferts defense, according to CHRB records. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. But the overall record indicates that he may not be running as tight a ship as he should.. [2] His first winner was Flipper Star at Rillito Park on January 28, 1979. In fact, Bafferts horses, at 8.3 deaths per 1,000 starts, have died at a significantly higher rate than Hollendorfers, at 6.25. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. 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. 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. But he said it wasnt clear from the records why the CHRB reversed course on filing a complaint against Baffert. Bob Baffert Family, Parents Both trainers were fined $500. The 90 day ban against Baffert was set to be honored in all 38 racing states. 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. "[16][17] Nonetheless, Churchill Downs suspended Baffert from entering any horses at their racetrack pending the outcome of an investigation. 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. 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. 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.). The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. 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. Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. In 2000, for instance, another of his horses, Nautical Look, tested positive for morphine, landing Baffert a two-month suspension. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. [8] As of 1January2022[update] the question of whether the horse would join Dancer's Image by being disqualified for a drug violation in the Derby remains pending. By then, Justify had won the Triple Crown, one of the rarest achievements in sports. 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. 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. Another person who came to Bafferts defense was his former assistant Tim Yakteen, who now runs his own stable. Bob Bafferts horses have incurred numerous drug violations over the course of his 44 years as a thoroughbred trainer. Petersen noted that in a previous case the board had exonerated the trainers of three horses who had tested positive for scopolamine, finding the flunked tests were a result of Jimson weed. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. The TOC, of which Baffert is still a board member, did not respond to requests for comment. Cardoza, who now works for a law firm, denied in an interview last month that the TOC was involved: Not at all. But he then said, TOCs involvement in that bill had nothing to do with Bob Baffert., Instead, Cardoza said, the drive to oust Arthur was over his opposition to Lasix. The Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Trainer in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2015, Baffert has won 18 Breeders' Cup races, including four editions of the Classic with . Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. In fact, at some point Id like to get back together with Bob, Shah said. American Pharoah next won the 140th Preakness Stakes, making six victories in that race for Baffert, who also finished fourth with Dortmund. 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. He has also won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes once. 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. Racing does not have a historical database for violations, with most of the information kept on the state level. Another day passed before it was discovered the colt was administered a topical ointment for a rash that contained betamethasone. He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. Ruis horse, Bolt dOro, finished second. 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. Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. 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.. I dont see somebody who is doping horses, Martin said after reviewing Bafferts drug-related history. 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. There are no secrets on the backside.. But in the most recent election in June, he finished seventh of eight, the only incumbent beaten. Hes always wanted to be a rock star and some people dont think racing should have one.. If the complaint was ruled on quickly enough, it would have made Justify ineligible for the Kentucky Derby. All of the drugs were legal, just not in the amounts found on race day. Wizards show plenty of heart early but cant find an edge late in Chicago. Some of the earlier violations do give you pause. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. To the newspaper, she. [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. The public backlash, including a letter written by a gay. (Arthur and those involved with the bill said the actions were unrelated. Robert A. Baffert (born January 13, 1953) is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert says he plans to seek legal recourse wherever necessary. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. But Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. Early life and career [ edit] 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. And promote he does, chatting with people he met one minute ago as if they were long-lost friends. On May 5, Justify won the Kentucky Derby, upping the stakes of the investigation. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. Has his success made people hate him more? The trainer was fined $2,500. You wouldnt know it now.. 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. 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. He claimed that the horse death data provided by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was not possible.. "We live in a different world now. The Judge made her ruling based on the NYRA having not allowed Baffert a forum to refute their claims and stated that (they the NYRA).."had held no hearing let alone a prompt one. 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 . According to data provided by the California Horse Racing Board and supplemented by The Times research, the trainer has had 75 horses die since 2000 either racing, training, or by illness or non-exercise accidents. 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. Decorated racehorse trainer who won multiple Kentucky Derbies, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. In his teens, he worked as a jockey for $100 a day in informal Quarter Horse races on the outskirts of Nogales. [13] In Kentucky, any amount of betamethasone detected in post-race testing is a violation and could result in a disqualification. Like Baffert, Hollendorfer is in the thoroughbred Hall of Fame. 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. It went exactly according to the lawyers plan. 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. Baffert is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. Baffert has paid out over $20,000 in fines, but compared against over $321 million in career earnings. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . 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. 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. 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.