Bob Baffert has supporters and detractors in how he deals with jockeys According to Arthurs report, he found that Baffert was dispensing Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a prescription thyroid hormone, to all horses in his care. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . Settlement reached over unauthorized Bob Baffert bourbon - The Last October Gamine was disqualified from third to last in the Kentucky Oaks after betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory, was discovered in the horses system. But Arthurs report said Hollywood Park used a different sort of poison than that found in the necropsy. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. Hearing Officer Recommends 2-Year NYRA Ban for Bob Baffert In a written decision, the stewards stated the CHRB has already ruled on this matter in its August 2018 closed hearing and had followed the law., However, the stewards suggested they would not have made the same decision as the CHRB: It is the Stewards opinion that had this Board of Stewards heard the Justify and Hoppertunity complaints prior to August 23, 2018 both horses would have been disqualified., Ruiss lawyers have since argued in court for the settlement to be rescinded because the stewards refused to make a decision on the merits., I remain convinced that justice has not yet been served, Vienna told The Post, and that hopefully the courts will resolve the matter., The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. If you lose 75% of the time, youre considered really, really good. On Monday, Bell confirmed he helped with the search, adding Jimson weed has plagued California for years.. Once the golden boy of horse racing, Bob Baffert now the face of its disgrace. He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. In 2015, the Daily Herald ran a profile on Jill Baffert, explaining that she was a former journalist and waitress from Centerville. It sounds like hes deflecting, Gagliano said of Baffert. 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. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other 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. EXPLAINER: Why is Bob Baffert not in the Kentucky Derby? - Spectrum News 1 In his teens, he worked as a jockey for $100 a day in informal Quarter Horse races on the outskirts of Nogales. In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. The owner was Kaleem Shah. On the morning of this years Kentucky Derby, he was going through his list of past Kentucky Derby winners and should-have-been winners, and dismissed Medina Spirit as not the best horse in the race. Things would have been so much simpler if the horse had not won the race. And Noodles died May 22 of a non-exercise induced respiratory issue. He finished third in the Derby that year with Congaree. Teflon."[11]. Bob Baffert: Judge denies his request to lift two-year Churchill Downs On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. After Uncle Sam, a 4-year-old colt, died during a workout at the track the following January, a vet wrote: This is the 3rd for this owner/trainer in about as many months collapsed and died.. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. He still has a responsibility as the face of the game but I dont think hell overcome [this] because his personality wont allow him to do it.. 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. [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. But by August, the plan had changed. 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. 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. After Baffert was notified a week following this years Kentucky Derby that the colts blood and urine sample contained 21 picograms, a trillionth of a gram, of betamethasone, he held a hastily called news conference outside his barn at Churchill Downs saying he had no idea how it could have gotten into the horses system. Attorneys argue 90-day suspension would end Bob Baffert's racing career As the trainer battles to protect his legacy, the records offer a new window into how those charged with running horse racings disjointed regulatory system have appeared to treat the powerful trainer with deference. 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. 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. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019. 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, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . Arthur B. Hancock III, a prominent thoroughbred owner, has for three decades been a leading proponent for eradicating drugs from the sport. And because of that, he has become arrogant as hell. There wasnt any question in my mind, he said recently. If it surprised me it would be that I expected more, Roberts said. Please answer some questions in this short survey about professional soccer and the 2022 Men's FIFA World Cup. 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. If they didnt adopt those rules, the rules that prevail are the ones they adopted.. Bob Baffert - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times The testing levels have become ridiculous, Baffert told a conference of racehorse veterinarians during his keynote speech in 2000, according to a trade publication. Baffert revisited the Derby the next year, sending two top colts, Real Quiet and Indian Charlie, to Louisville. Baffert has had two fatalities in the last three years, a low number for a barn of his size. Its truly painful when you know what the truth is, Baffert told The Times earlier this week in his first interview on the subject since May. Bafferts lawyers have made explicit that he will accept fines but not a suspension, and state regulators have continually obliged him. What I can tell you definitely is this case was handled differently, and it was handled differently because of Rick Arthur, said Ruiss attorney, Darrell Vienna. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . In more than four decades in the sport, Baffert has faced significant regulatory scrutiny because of a high death rate only once, after seven of his horses collapsed in a short period of time at the same California track. But they dont usually die in a cluster from a single barn for no clear reason. Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC, declined to be interviewed. Bob Baffert | National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame [2][4], Baffert established his early reputation with less expensive horses like Silver Charm and Real Quiet, bought for $16,500 and $17,000 respectively. As he did so, a political group with Baffert on its board was involved in legislation that would result in Arthur losing his job. Biography Bob Baffert is best known as a horse rider. 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 dark side of Bob Baffert's reign - Washington Post 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. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. 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. My heart tells me one thing, but my head tells me something else, said veteran racing journalist Ron Flatter, the managing editor of the website Horse Racing Nation. Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. The lawyers said that taking into account Bafferts estimate of how many horses he has in his care, a count that differs from the starts data, the number of deaths of horses in Bobs barn is consistent with what would normally be expected from the horse population in general. Starts are regularly used, including by the CHRB, to study the death rates of a trainer. In fact, Bafferts horses, at 8.3 deaths per 1,000 starts, have died at a significantly higher rate than Hollendorfers, at 6.25. The suspension was scheduled to run March 8 through June 5. It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. "[29][30] On September 10, 2021 Baffert was charged by NYRA for conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. 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.. Like Baffert, Hollendorfer is in the thoroughbred Hall of Fame. He followed it with six more Derbies, two of which launched Triple Crown runs, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. In a scheme typical of the high-stakes warring behind the scenes in racing, four thoroughbred owners entered talks in 2015 with a private intelligence agency to dig up drug-related dirt on Baffert, according to multiple people with direct knowledge. Baffert was fined $10,000. Time after time its not his fault. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. 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. Hearings begin for Bob Baffert's case against Churchill Downs ban Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. 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. 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. He told reporters that he would fight the issue "tooth and nail. 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. 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. Baffert often speaks of his life as if its a Shakespearean play, humankinds tragedies mingling with his own existential crises. 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. 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. Brewster alleged, without providing evidence, that the Jockey Club directed 5 Stones to investigate anybody who doesnt train for them and wins a lot of races and might run in racetracks they dont run at., You know what the conclusion was? Brewster said of the alleged private investigation into Baffert. This whole thing is ridiculous, Baffert texted back, according to messages obtained by The Post via public records request. Bob Baffert - Wikipedia Its not often that a sport turns against its biggest star, but Churchill Downs has taken that stand.