), 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. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. John Cherwa is a special contributor to the Los Angeles Times. 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 attorney generals office referred all questions to the CHRB. The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. By then, Arthur already had a years-long, tangled history with Baffert. It wasn't long after the running of the 123rd Kentucky Derby, where a grey . 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." Only once has a Kentucky Derby winner been disqualified for a medication violation. . Settlement reached over unauthorized Bob Baffert bourbon - The 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. 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. He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. Share on Facebook TWEET This Teflon."[11]. Baffert often speaks of his life as if its a Shakespearean play, humankinds tragedies mingling with his own existential crises. Baffert, however, wouldnt change the outcome. 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 his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. 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. 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. Arthur also presented exercise histories for the horses that showed they worked harder than average. ), Among the TOCs central crusades was countering the movement against Lasix. Baffert's disgrace could help turn racing to better future | Lexington Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. One of the biggest assholes and cheats of all time, horse-racing It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. (Arthur and those involved with the bill said the actions were unrelated. Medina Spirit had a legal medication in him, ONeill said. The timing of the legislation was coincidental, he added: I understand where youre going and why, but there were no connections, from my perspective., Brewster, attorney for Medina Spirits owner, also said that Bafferts issue with Arthur was about Lasix and that the timing was irrelevant.. Baffert has saddled 34 horses in the Derby third-most in history since his first appearance in 1996. The veterinarian chalked up Bafferts response to ignorance. And he does know generally when to stop on a horse.. Biography Bob Baffert is best known as a horse rider. 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. 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. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. The first two infractions occurred in May 2020, when the horses Charlatan and Gamine tested positive in Arkansas for lidocaine, a numbing agent. Baffert said the horse was off the drug for 18 days before the race. Bell told an investigator he then checked other bales and found a branch and pods he thought were Jimson weed in the parking lot. Clark Brewster, a nationally known trial attorney who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her defamation suit against President Trump, will be Bafferts attorney in any litigation against Churchill Downs. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. 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. 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. There were at least 39 trainers with more fatalities to their name than Baffert during that period. Asked whether he was surprised by the finding that Bafferts barn was the deadliest in California, Roberts laughed. 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.). 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. The suspension was scheduled to run March 8 through June 5. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. 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. Churchill Downs Draws a Hard Line With Bob Baffert 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.. 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. If it surprised me it would be that I expected more, Roberts said. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. Baffert sued in federal court, claiming the two months off could cost him $11 million in purses. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. The lawyer wrote there is evidence suggesting that this matter was handled differently.. 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. [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. Those who have known Baffert the longest, including a core group of owners, recognize his flaws but generally remain steadfast in their support of him. 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. Being a horse trainer is tough enough because its such an up-and-down, emotional roller coaster, Baffert said. In 1977, as a part-time trainer, he was suspended for a year when one of his horses tested positive for morphine. Baffert responded: Zero tolerance?, Robertson, Bafferts attorney, then tried to negotiate for Baffert to avoid potential suspensions in both Arkansas and Kentucky. Trump: Kentucky Derby Controversy 'Emblematic of What Is - Newsmax In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. 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. In fact, Bafferts horses, at 8.3 deaths per 1,000 starts, have died at a significantly higher rate than Hollendorfers, at 6.25. Bafferts breakthrough thoroughbred was Thirty Slews, who won the Breeders Cup Sprint in 1992. "We live in a different world now. Bob Baffert's Life Is Good gallops to win in San Felipe Stakes at Santa Bafferts lawyers have made explicit that he will accept fines but not a suspension, and state regulators have continually obliged him. 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. 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. It was an easy suspension to serve as Baffert was in school and not doing much training. By then, Justify had won the Triple Crown, one of the rarest achievements in sports. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. Its so obvious. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. Once again, the Hall of Fame. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. When asked about that plan, attorney Brewster said that in fact 5 Stones did investigate Baffert at the direction of the Jockey Club. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc . [10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. It bothers me when hes not considered the Kentucky Derby winner.. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. Baffert was fined $10,000. In the past three years, there were 188 deaths involving either racing or training in California. Baedeker and Arthur said in interviews that no matter how it was handled it would have been impossible to resolve the case that quickly. After finishing last season strong, CJ Abrams is ready for more. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our country. LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. High Connection won the $125,000 Los Alamitos Derby by 1 3/4 lengths Saturday, giving trainer Bob Baffert his second victory on the card in his return to competition after serving a 90-day suspension. 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. With Time Running Out In Legal Wars, Bob Baffert Says Four Of His And Noodles died May 22 of a non-exercise induced respiratory issue. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. Hal Earnhardt, an Arizona car dealer and Bafferts oldest client, introduced him to Pegram, who made his money in fast-food franchising. 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. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. Hes a very unique personality, a unique sense of humor. Bob Baffert's Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know His white hair, tinted glasses and accessibility make him a natural to promote the sport. In 2021, the post-race test of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit showed 21pg/mL of betamethasone. Bob survived a heart attack in late March 2012 while in Dubai for a world-class race at Meydan. Following the publication of the report, Baffert tweeted: Im gratified that CHRB completed its investigation & found there was no wrongdoing. Shortly after Petersen sent the analysis of the states chances, the CHRB agreed to settle Ruiss lawsuit. (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) In fact, at some point Id like to get back together with Bob, Shah said. 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. 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. Baffert is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. 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. Again, we can most likely agree to most anything in Kentucky except a suspension.. 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. Bob Baffert | National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Yes, I'm a registered Republican, although I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. 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. Baffert grew up on a ranch in Nogales, Arizona, where his family raised cattle and chickens. The colt skipped the Belmont Stakes but became the champion three-year-old colt that year. We have a real conundrum to sort out, Arthur wrote in an email to top CHRB officials, explaining he believed a disqualification would be terribly unfair. More than a year earlier, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, which creates model rules for the sports various state bodies, had reclassified scopolamine from a 3/B to a 4/C drug. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. [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. Baffert was inducted into Lone Star Park's Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2009, he was nominated and inducted to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame, the same year as a filly he trained, Silverbulletday. Bob Baffert - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times It basically said something under his control is associated with these fatalities, Arthur said, but regulators couldnt act without evidence of a rules violation. Bob Baffert - Wikipedia 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. All of the drugs were legal, just not in the amounts found on race day. 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. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. Many in the racing world wondered how many times can the dog eat your homework? Baffert has also had his share of horse fatalities, the other metric to which his critics point. He got his first big break in 1992 when he won his first Breeder's Cup race with Thirty Slews. [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. Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of the second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has sued the CHRB. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. The horse is scheduled to run Saturday in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. Two Triple Crown winners and a signature shock of white hair will do that for a man. But hes a good person, no, a great person. View . 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. Were going to get through it.. But he said it wasnt clear from the records why the CHRB reversed course on filing a complaint against Baffert. I went under the radar. Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. You wouldnt know it now.. In the next six months, three of his horses tested positive for banned or excessive substances four times in California, Arkansas and Kentucky. But in 2019, he was banned from Santa Anita Park and affiliated tracks after four of his horses died there in six months. A week after that, Baffert learned of the positive test. 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. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. Medina Spirit departed Churchill Downs in a van before dawn on Monday, bound for Baltimore (a horse van, not Jeff Spicoli's VW bus ). California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. Bob had the personality and he was honest. The New York Racing Assn. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. In a hearing in October, the state and attorneys for Baffert and the horses owners stipulated the scopolamine positive was the result of contamination and it would have no performance-enhancing effects. Does his love of the camera sometimes bite him? asked longtime owner and friend Mike Pegram. 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. 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. Bob Baffert - Celebnetworth.net Gray declined to be interviewed for this story, instead issuing a statement declaring that the personal vendettas of others, perceived or otherwise, play no roll [sic] in the legislation I carry. His spokesman added that campaign contributions do not affect Grays policy proposals. There are no secrets on the backside.. He built up his training business a step at a time and acquired some prominent owners. The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of . Before his Kentucky Derby-winning colt, Medina Spirit, tested positive for betamethasone last month which could erase the victory his horses were cited for drug-related violations 29 times, according to the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI). 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. Medina Spirit: Bob Baffert again playing victim in drug controversy 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. Nonetheless, in that case, Arkansas suspended Baffert for 15 days. [11], Prior to Medina Spirit's death, Baffert had last been under intense scrutiny a decade earlier when seven horses in his stables at Hollywood Park died between November 2, 2011 and March 14, 2013, all from sudden and later unexplained heart attacks. 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 in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. 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. 'It was cancel culture': Kentucky Derby winner's trainer defends failed For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. How carefully the dosage was followed was not determined, Arthur wrote. We had some thoroughbreds with another trainer and Im thinking how can we make money with Bobby running for $4,000 at night when we could be running for $40,000 during the day, Pegram said. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. Bob Baffert says Medina Spirit a victim of cancel culture | Lexington At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack. Kaleem Shah, an owner who split with Baffert in 2016, defended the trainer over the horse deaths. See, I bet you didnt know I was a jockey? Baffert said. 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. And because of that, he has become arrogant as hell. This America's different." pic . The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. The dark side of Bob Baffert's reign - Washington Post 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. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. 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. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. CHRB regulations state that its foreign substances guidelines are based on ARCI recommendations as modified by the state board. When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. 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. Thats the only time I ever had to deal with somebody who tried to go to federal court to stop a state administrative action., Finally, in 2005, after the matter had returned to state court, the CHRB dismissed the suspension after an administrative law judge concluded Baffert had nothing to gain and a great deal to lose by the use of a banned substance on this horse., Baffert further solidified his influence in the ensuing years. The 74 total deaths since 2000 put Baffert third among trainers. And he pushes the envelope to the extent that they give their lives for his bank account.. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. 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. followed up and ruled Baffert would not be allowed to run in New York. The positive test only emerged when the New York Times reported it more than a year later. 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. [15], At a news conference on May 9, Baffert initially said that Medina Spirit was never administered betamethasone. Does the drug that could strip Medina Spirit of a Kentucky Derby win enhance performance? By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. "[16][17] Nonetheless, Churchill Downs suspended Baffert from entering any horses at their racetrack pending the outcome of an investigation. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. You could trust him and that never changed.. When I won with [Triple Crown winners] American Pharoah and Justify, it was a relief. 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 . Hearings begin for Bob Baffert's case against Churchill Downs ban

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