Its all because of his success.. [10][12] However, his violations for use of prohibited medications has sparked controversy. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. The trainer was fined $2,500. This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown, Arthur said. 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. Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of the second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has sued the CHRB. Baffert was granted a stay until April 4 to gain time for an appeal. Please answer some questions in this short survey about professional soccer and the 2022 Men's FIFA World Cup. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. 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. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. Baffert was fined $10,000. Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate him, Pegram said. Once the golden boy of horse racing, Bob Baffert now the face of its disgrace. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. At the time, she was 42-years-old. But they dont usually die in a cluster from a single barn for no clear reason. When the CHRB also decided to run DNA tests on the horses blood samples, the records show Arthur said the request would be a big deal and asked if they could wait until after the Preakness, which was 10 days away. . The goal, the people familiar said, was to get Baffert to support languishing reforms in the sport. His most serious infraction was also his first. But Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. No sanctions were issued against Baffert.[40][41]. I think much of the GOP political party is moving too far to the right. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. In the next six months, three of his horses tested positive for banned or excessive substances four times in California, Arkansas and Kentucky. ), Arthur has defended his handling of the Justify positive. Its not often that a sport turns against its biggest star, but Churchill Downs has taken that stand. None of them are considered performance-enhancing in the traditional sense, such as amphetamines or speedballs. Nine died in 2000, all but one from breakdowns. 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 . Less than two weeks later, Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. ), The records show Arthurs early decisions led to the CHRB veering off its usual course in its handling of the Justify case, beginning with his email to a testing coordinator that read, The scopolamine cases will be handled differently than usual., By the CHRBs own guidelines, the way forward was clear: If a second sample came back positive, the CHRB would file a complaint. Baffert's attorney argued in court that the trainer's May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. 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. Yeah, sure, hes a wiseass and irreverent. In that period, 36% of all cardiac related horse deaths in California were animals trained by Baffert. Bell told an investigator he then checked other bales and found a branch and pods he thought were Jimson weed in the parking lot. Hollywood Park closed in 2013, and the saga of the dead horses there faded quickly from the headlines. Baffert is the biggest name in horse racing, even bigger than the animals he conditions. Baffert has been married twice and has five children: four with his first wife, Sherry: Taylor, Canyon, Forest, and Savannah. By then, Arthur already had a years-long, tangled history with Baffert. This America's different." pic . 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. But the overall record indicates that he may not be running as tight a ship as he should.. By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. We live and work in a fishbowl, with rumors and accusations flowing constantly, Baffert said. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. 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. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. 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. [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. But hes a good person, no, a great person. Justify faced disqualification from his victory in the Santa Anita Derby that would cost his owners a partnership of wealthy interests their share of the $600,000 first-place purse. [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. Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. Arthur is retiring at the end of June from a job often consumed by the scandals of a single trainer. 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]. The owners ultimately abandoned the plan after Bafferts horse, American Pharoah, won the Triple Crown that year, fearing their effort could damage the sport, one of those people said. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. From there, he moved to racing at recognized tracks, scoring his first victory at age 17 in 1970. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. 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. 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. [2] His first winner was Flipper Star at Rillito Park on January 28, 1979. He has won the Kentucky Derby five times. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . CHRB brass agreed to follow Arthurs suggestion. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. The CHRB officially opened an investigation. Bafferts lawyers have made explicit that he will accept fines but not a suspension, and state regulators have continually obliged him. In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. Biography Bob Baffert is best known as a horse rider. This in turn led to a ban from all California Horse Racing Board facilities beginning April 4 due to a rule removing any trainer under a 60 day or higher ban from all CHRB facilities. "We live in a different world now. 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. Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He's saddled. [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 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. 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.. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. 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." (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) [10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. [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. 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. You wouldnt know it now.. He has also won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes once. Several members of the Breeders Cup board have used Baffert as their trainer. Wizards show plenty of heart early but cant find an edge late in Chicago. 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. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. 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. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. 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. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. All of the drugs were legal, just not in the amounts found on race day. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. 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. The CHRB ruled it was caused by feed contamination, citing six other horses across four barns who also tested positive. By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. 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. American Pharoah next won the 140th Preakness Stakes, making six victories in that race for Baffert, who also finished fourth with Dortmund. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. Share on Facebook TWEET This But when factoring in the number of races run, Bafferts horses have died at the highest rate of the 10 trainers who have had the most horse deaths. It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks. 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. 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.). 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. . No horse loving person like Bob or his entire team accepts the reality of a horse death with anything other than sadness and despair, the lawyers said in their statement. I went under the radar. 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. A week after that, Baffert learned of the positive test. To me, whats in the best interest of the sport is not seeing anyone being dogpiled on.. Between November 2011 and March 2013, however, Baffert had seven of his horses die of sudden death, not on the race track. 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. Teflon."[11]. Baffert made the. The drug was again betamethasone, and Baffert again expressed shock and vowed to clear his name. 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. . In 2012, Baffert saddled Bodemeister, named for the trainer's youngest son, Bode, to second-place finishes in the Derby and Preakness. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. 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. Hes Mr. Teflon.. (A CHRB spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Churchill Downs goes after suspended trainer Bob Baffert with new policy. The colt lost the Belmont Stakes after breaking poorly from the starting gate. After the test result was revealed, Mick Ruis, the trainer and owner of the Santa Anita Derbys runner-up, sued the CHRB, claiming Justifys win should have been erased. to move forward. Petersen did not respond to an interview request. [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point. 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. Baffert wants a preliminary injunction that would keep Churchill Downs from denying his horses entry into races there and at Turfway Park, in Florence, Ky., and from "prohibiting him from earning. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. He was fined $1,500. Decorated racehorse trainer who won multiple Kentucky Derbies, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The horse is scheduled to run Saturday in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita.