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 Baffert Family, Parents But the sports new governing authority will not take over until mid-2022. Real Quiet won the race that year, and Baffert also finished third with Indian Charlie. 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. With private eyes and political muscle, horse racings elite pushed to punish dopers, Throughout the months-long process, CHRB officials had indicated they planned on filing a complaint against Baffert, which would have exposed the failed drug test. 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. There are no secrets on the backside.. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. 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. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. The substance was indeed Jimson weed. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . The trainer was fined $2,500. He got his first big break in 1992 when he won his first Breeder's Cup race with Thirty Slews. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. 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. He followed it with six more Derbies, two of which launched Triple Crown runs, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. During a hearing, records show, Baffert argued the positive test could have been a result of his stable hands eating poppy seed bagels and muffins around the horse. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. And the Breeders Cup, which will be held Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar, has indicated it will soon make a decision on Bafferts eligibility to run in those championship races. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. May 10, 2021. It bothers me when hes not considered the Kentucky Derby winner.. On Monday, Bell confirmed he helped with the search, adding Jimson weed has plagued California for years.. Four months later, during a confidential executive session, Arthur and CHRB Director Rick Baedeker recommended that the commissioners not move forward with the disqualification of Justify, arguing that the scopolamine positive was probably the result of contamination from jimson weed. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. Its all because of his success.. He views himself as an ambassador for the sport. Hes the person few in the business want to talk about, but everyone wants to hear about. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. He has often blamed drug positives on trace contamination from substances in a horses barn and has criticized tightening restrictions on the race-day use of bute and other drugs. The winner's share of the $600 purse was $330. 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. Drop dead while galloping, read a California Horse Racing Board vets account of the first horses death in November 2011. 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). For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. The testing levels have become ridiculous, Baffert told a conference of racehorse veterinarians during his keynote speech in 2000, according to a trade publication. But he said it wasnt clear from the records why the CHRB reversed course on filing a complaint against Baffert. He has won the Kentucky Derby five times. In 2015, he trained American Pharoah, the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.. He finished third in the Derby that year with Congaree. And he does know generally when to stop on a horse.. Baffert has also had his share of horse fatalities, the other metric to which his critics point. In the case of Bafferts recent horse deaths, the records list a typical blend of drugs that have been allowed under certain thresholds, most frequently the anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone (or bute to horsemen) and furosemide (also known as Lasix), which is said to decrease bleeding from a horses lungs. Another day passed before it was discovered the colt was administered a topical ointment for a rash that contained betamethasone. 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 . It went exactly according to the lawyers plan. 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. Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. Ruis horse, Bolt dOro, finished second. Hospital food is a punchline. Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. 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 had the personality and he was honest. A recent conversation about the tragedy of horse deaths wended its way back to the defense of his reputation. 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. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. 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. A 4/C violation meant minor punishment that wouldnt typically involve disqualifying the horse or redistributing winnings. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. Without that win, Justify would not have qualified to run in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, a month later. The veterinarian chalked up Bafferts response to ignorance. To the newspaper, she. 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. However, Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone. 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. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. Shah said the two parted over disagreements that should have been resolved, without being specific. In his claustrophobic and cluttered office at Santa Anita Barn 5, Bob Baffert, the hall of fame trainer, was pushing papers and moving stacks, hunting for a faded photo of his 17-year-old self aboard a long-forgotten quarter horse from a small racing circuit in Arizona. In 2013 the group hosted a Lasix-focused event at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills at which one owner reportedly said running a race without the drug was like waterboarding your horse in their own blood.. The colt skipped the Belmont Stakes but became the champion three-year-old colt that year. Every investigation over the past 20 years has reached the same conclusion: no rules or regulations have been violated nor has there been any improper activity on Bobs part., Brewster also said that the vast majority of Bafferts drug-related violations, as tracked by ARCI, shouldnt be counted because they were too old or related to overages of otherwise-allowed drugs in a horse, which he dismissed as like coming to work with too much Advil in your system., Robertson said in an e-mail that [n]o one has done more for horse racing and is better for the sport than Bob Baffert, and he listed various awards the trainer has received, including being inducted into four separate Hall of Fames. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. Bell told an investigator he then checked other bales and found a branch and pods he thought were Jimson weed in the parking lot. Bob Baffert has supporters and detractors in how he deals with jockeys By John Cherwa Special Contributor Nov. 2, 2016 4:28 PM PT Bob Baffert, still fresh and snappy after hours of morning. Baffert 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. Wizards show plenty of heart early but cant find an edge late in Chicago. In the court of public opinion, hes a big loser, said Barry Irwin, owner of racing group Team Valor and an outspoken critic of race-day medication and Baffert. 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. 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. But Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. If they didnt adopt those rules, the rules that prevail are the ones they adopted.. The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. Does the drug that could strip Medina Spirit of a Kentucky Derby win enhance performance? [31][32] Additional charges were added on January 3, 2022. In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. In the past three years, there were 188 deaths involving either racing or training in California. 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. [10], Controversy deepened when on December 6, 2021, Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a workout at Santa Anita Park. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . 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. He built up his training business a step at a time and acquired some prominent owners. He was 10 when his father, Bill, bought a couple of quarter horses, plowed some land for a track and Bob started riding them before school each morning. 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 . The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Adam Gray, a former aide to Cardoza who had been in office for less than three months. Pegram persuaded Baffert to try thoroughbreds. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our country. His most serious infraction was also his first. Baffert is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. And he pushes the envelope to the extent that they give their lives for his bank account.. The CHRB ruled it was caused by feed contamination, citing six other horses across four barns who also tested positive. Regardless, the indictments appeared to sway Baffert, whose opinion piece in The Post supported drastic action to fix a broken system. Among the provisions in the federal legislation that Baffert supported is a phaseout of Lasix on race day a reform Baffert had opposed for years. The Post separately obtained start data dating back to 2000 from the Daily Racing Form to put the deaths into context. 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. ), Among the TOCs central crusades was countering the movement against Lasix. 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. Then, when American Pharoah won the 2015 Belmont Stakes, the win was the fourth attempt at a Triple Crown for Baffert, who at age 62 became the second-oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown.[6]. The horse is scheduled to run Saturday in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. 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. He paused, then added: Ive learned who my friends are.. Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. My focus will always be on the best care for my horses. Shah, the owner of at least three of the horses, told The Post he had fully trusted Baffert as a trainer and had no reason to suspect that he would harm the horses he loves the horses. Brewster, the attorney, said that Baffert believed the horses had ingested rat poison, traces of which were found in one of them. Nothing is held back.. 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. He's saddled. Finding a new director every two to four years would cost $300,000 each time, a committee that analyzed the bill found. [8] His first suspension was in 1977 for misuse of morphene, but thereafter he had no violations for the next eight years. 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. In 2007, he joined the 15-member board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), a nonprofit that represents the roughly 9,000 CHRB-licensed owners in the state. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Churchill Downs goes after suspended trainer Bob Baffert with new policy. Tinsley declined to comment. The deadliest period came between 2000 and 2005, when 34 of Bafferts horses in California died. 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. California keeps track of horse deaths by trainer, but there are errors and limits to the data. Hollendorfers lawyer, Drew Couto, has claimed his client is being unfairly blamed for a high-profile spike of deaths at the track. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. (The trainer and jockey usually get 10 percent each.) 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. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. 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. There were at least 39 trainers with more fatalities to their name than Baffert during that period. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOC's political action committee, California records show. 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. Baffert, like many trainers, was using a thyroid drug that was cited in the CHRB investigation. 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. Some of the earlier violations do give you pause. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. And Madeline Auerbach, who later became a CHRB commissioner, had partnered with Baffert in thoroughbred breeding. 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. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. But after learning that Justify and another Baffert horse had tested positive for the same drug, Arthur announced in an e-mail to CHRB officials: The scopolamine cases will be handled differently than usual. Arthur said in a recent interview that he was referring to the logistics of what was clearly going to be a high-profile case that needed to be handled carefully.. How carefully the dosage was followed was not determined, Arthur wrote. Petersen opined it would have been unfair to punish Baffert for what he called an oversight by CHRB staff and said there is no evidence to suggest a nefarious motive by the board. Yes, I'm a registered Republican, although I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. Even then, he would not talk about the specifics of the cases against him. This included Baffert's home track at Santa Anita, although Baffert horse Shaaz won the sixth race on April 2. 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. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. Baffert said the horse was off the drug for 18 days before the race. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. [19][20] On May 11, Baffert stated Medina Spirit had dermatitis, for which an ointment containing betamethasone was used. A New York federal judge on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 nullified the suspension of horse trainer Bob Baffert, finding that the New York Racing Association acted unconstitutionally by failing to let him adequately respond to claims made against him after Kentucky . [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point. 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. With upward of $1 million in yearly revenue drawn from wagering at tracks, the TOCs stated mission included establishing fair and reasonable medication rules and integrity standards., Baffert, the groups resident celebrity, was in business with several of his colleagues. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. [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. 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.. Gray said at the time that the bill also would increase the institutional knowledge of Californias central horse drug-testing lab. 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. [8][37] That case was eventually dismissed as the regulators concluded the facts supported an instance of feed contamination. 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. I told him I thought there was a good indication that these were feed contamination.. His attorney, let me just say, worked very, very hard, recalled former California Deputy Attorney General Jerald L. Mosley, who represented the state in attempting to uphold the suspension. [38] This reminded the public that since 2000, at least 74 other horses had died while in Baffert's stables. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. Its just disheartening. 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 the time, she was 42-years-old. The dark side of Bob Baffert's reign. Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance. It was then that Baffert, one of the most accessible trainers in horse racing, stopped talking until this week. Medina Spirit had a legal medication in him, ONeill said. It takes only a minute or so to walk from the racetrack at Santa Anita Park to the barns in back. Share on Facebook TWEET This You wouldnt know it now.. I thought wed get fourth. Santa Anitas 16-day fall season begins Friday with 14 stakes races over three days as trainers and owners take aim at the Breeders Cup at Del Mar. In the 1980s, Baffert moved to California and worked at Los Alamitos Race Course, where he switched to training Thoroughbreds full-time in 1991. Kentucky regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test. Baffert dedicated American Pharoah's win to Bobby. The lawyer wrote there is evidence suggesting that this matter was handled differently.. After Arthur cleared Baffert of wrongdoing, the legislation was abandoned. It wasn't long after the running of the 123rd Kentucky Derby, where a grey . The way this case was handled was out of respect for Justify., On the afternoon of April 18, 2018, Arthur learned that Justify and another Baffert horse, Hoppertunity, had tested positive for scopolamine. [7] Baffert became a 7-time winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2021 with Medina Spirit. Ive heard the rumors on Bobby since we got in the business after winning some Cal Cup races. Biography Bob Baffert is best known as a horse rider. The. He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. Robert A. Baffert is an American Racehorse Trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. to move forward. Petersen did not respond to an interview request. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. He appeared in an episode of the TV show Take Home Chef. was unconstitutional after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test. Baffert, a La Caada Flintridge resident who is currently training his horses at Santa Anita, has not officially been charged with anything related to Medina Spirit. 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. [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. Currently, his major coverage area is horse racing, where he can be found at big races at Santa Anita, the Triple Crown series and Breeders Cup. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. 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. 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. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. 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. [9] Point Given was nominated in 2009, but elected and inducted in 2010.