The month after that, Grays bill to limit Arthurs term was passed out of a committee. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. This time, he aided the CHRBs search for Jimson weed. Even then, he would not talk about the specifics of the cases against him. 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. When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. In that period, 36% of all cardiac related horse deaths in California were animals trained by Baffert. Were going to get through it.. ), 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. 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. He also dismissed complaints that doping was rampant in the sport. By then, Justify had won the Triple Crown, one of the rarest achievements in sports. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. In 2010, Misremembered, a horse he bred, owned by his wife Jill and their friend George Jacobs, won the Santa Anita Handicap, marking Baffert's first Grade I win as a breeder instead of a trainer. Racing does not have a historical database for violations, with most of the information kept on the state level. On May 5, Justify won the Kentucky Derby, upping the stakes of the investigation. Jerry Hollendorfer has the most deaths with 122. The positive test only emerged when the New York Times reported it more than a year later. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. The Post separately obtained start data dating back to 2000 from the Daily Racing Form to put the deaths into context. 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. In fact, at some point Id like to get back together with Bob, Shah said. But in 2019, he was banned from Santa Anita Park and affiliated tracks after four of his horses died there in six months. The 90 day ban against Baffert was set to be honored in all 38 racing states. 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. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. In the past three years, there were 188 deaths involving either racing or training in California. Baffert was granted a stay until April 4 to gain time for an appeal. Baffert has trained horses that won fifteen American Classic Races, fifteen Breeders' Cup races, four Dubai World Cups and the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. [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, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. Hes a very unique personality, a unique sense of humor. The 77-year-old billionaire made headlines last year when he made a $10,000 contribution to opponents of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance. He paused, then added: Ive learned who my friends are.. 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 has won the Kentucky Oaks three times: first in 1999 with Silverbulletday, who was later selected for the Hall of Fame, then with Plum Pretty in 2011 and with Abel Tasman in 2017. But the sports new governing authority will not take over until mid-2022. However, Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. The California Horse Racing Boards inner workings during the episode have remained mostly shrouded by official secrecy. Four months after that, in May 2014, Arthur issued an advisory that the CHRB was concerned by the apparently indiscriminate use of thyroxine and that the drug must be prescribed for a specific horse for a specific condition. Arthur told The Post that the advisory was a result of the Baffert investigation. This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown, Arthur 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. But Arthurs report said Hollywood Park used a different sort of poison than that found in the necropsy. The groom denied it. The new classification simply makes more sense pharmacologically, Arthur wrote. Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC, declined to be interviewed. Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate him, Pegram said. ), Among the TOCs central crusades was countering the movement against Lasix. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. 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.. [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. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. 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. He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. "We live in a different world now. 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. Bob Baffert Family, Parents 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.. Political Cartoons. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. 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 . Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . 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. 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. May 10, 2021. [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. This America's different." pic . 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. His last day as medical equine director is Wednesday. Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. 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.. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Grays successful election committee. [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. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. Its so obvious. Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. But hes Bob, he has to speak his mind.. It will all be settled by lawyers and judges and that takes time. Some of the earlier violations do give you pause. That investigation led to the indictments that Baffert said spurred him to embrace more oversight, so the cheaters would be quickly caught and punished.. Finding a new director every two to four years would cost $300,000 each time, a committee that analyzed the bill found. Baffert dedicated American Pharoah's win to Bobby. 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. 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. 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. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. By Marty Irby. 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. Medina Spirit died after a training session on 6 December 2021 and an ensuing necropsy on 11 February 2022 was inconclusive. 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. 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. Baedeker said this week he changed his mind on not filing a complaint, which would have put the matter before CHRBs Board of Stewards, because he didnt want to pass the buck. [38] This reminded the public that since 2000, at least 74 other horses had died while in Baffert's stables. He built up his training business a step at a time and acquired some prominent owners. To me, whats in the best interest of the sport is not seeing anyone being dogpiled on.. 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. . 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. The drug was again betamethasone, and Baffert again expressed shock and vowed to clear his name. 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. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. 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 goal, the people familiar said, was to get Baffert to support languishing reforms in the sport. Baffert was fined $10,000. Nine died in 2000, all but one from breakdowns. On June 1, Baedeker had asked the agencys top lawyer and investigator how close they were to filing the Scopolamine complaints., On July 9, a month after Justifys Belmont triumph, the agencys chief counsel, Robert Brodnik, wrote to the CHRB investigator that they would like to officially file by Monday.. Baffert made the. 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. The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. 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. The New York Racing Assn. [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. 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. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . 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. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. Many in the racing world wondered how many times can the dog eat your homework? Two Triple Crown winners and a signature shock of white hair will do that for a man. Medina Spirit departed Churchill Downs in a van before dawn on Monday, bound for Baltimore (a horse van, not Jeff Spicoli's VW bus ). It was an easy suspension to serve as Baffert was in school and not doing much training. It went exactly according to the lawyers plan. 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. 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. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. Like Baffert, Hollendorfer is in the thoroughbred Hall of Fame. The 69-year-old Hall of Fame trainer is suing Churchill Downs Inc. in federal court to end his suspension. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. The Kentucky Derby winner is staying ahead of . 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. But he said it wasnt clear from the records why the CHRB reversed course on filing a complaint against Baffert. The first two infractions occurred in May 2020, when the horses Charlatan and Gamine tested positive in Arkansas for lidocaine, a numbing agent. 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. Hes won seven, more than anyone else in the 147-year history of the race. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. Hollendorfers lawyer, Drew Couto, has claimed his client is being unfairly blamed for a high-profile spike of deaths at the track. But its a lot more difficult when going against a private company, such as Churchill Downs, which can invoke its own penalties. Bob had the personality and he was honest. He views himself as an ambassador for the sport. Baffert won his first race as a thoroughbred trainer Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to a victory at Rillito in Arizona. They had a son in 2004 whom they named "Bode" (/bodi/ BOH-dee), after skier Bode Miller. "Bobby" Adair. 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. Obviously if we can get the Kentucky case resolved, Arkansas will have the benefit of knowing that result before a final decision is made in that case. Two months after Arthur cleared Baffert, the legislation to limit his term died. [34] However, the Kentucky Court of Appeals rejected Baffert's appeal on April 1. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. In 2012, Baffert saddled Bodemeister, named for the trainer's youngest son, Bode, to second-place finishes in the Derby and Preakness. Arthur and CHRB investigators inspected Bafferts barn, reviewed veterinary records and interviewed Baffert, who was flanked by an attorney. And Noodles died May 22 of a non-exercise induced respiratory issue. Baffert also has wielded unmatched clout when regulators have discovered banned or excessive substances in his horses. I thought wed get fourth. Following the 2015 Belmont win, Baffert outlined several charities that he and his wife Jill supported. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. 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. 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. [9] Point Given was nominated in 2009, but elected and inducted in 2010. [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 TOC, of which Baffert is still a board member, did not respond to requests for comment. But in this case, Arthur urged a lighter penalty based on his suggestion the CHRB downgrade the drug. Tinsley declined to comment. 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. Earlier data was unreliable, the racing publication said. 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. 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. His reasoning was that Baffert also administered thyroxine to horses outside of Hollywood Park, where his horses did not suffer sudden deaths. The CHRB ruled it was caused by feed contamination, citing six other horses across four barns who also tested positive. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. 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 rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. But they dont usually die in a cluster from a single barn for no clear reason. You wouldnt know it now.. No sanctions were issued against Baffert.[40][41]. 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. There is nothing new here, he wrote. For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. Horse racing needs to cut off the head of the snake, Ruis said. It didnt take Baffert long to dominate Rillito Park and Prescott Downs in Arizona. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. The. The board followed their recommendation. 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. (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) The average death rate for racehorses in California, according to an analysis of more than 5,000 deaths since 2000, is 7.2 per 1,000 starts. Horse owner and racing reform advocate Barry Irwin has stated, "He's Mr. In 2015, he trained American Pharoah, the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.. [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. Baffert is the biggest name in horse racing, even bigger than the animals he conditions. 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. ), Arthur has defended his handling of the Justify positive. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. And because of that, he has become arrogant as hell. I went under the radar. 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.. The colt skipped the Belmont Stakes but became the champion three-year-old colt that year. Teflon."[11]. The board agreed not to disqualify Justify. Does his love of the camera sometimes bite him? asked longtime owner and friend Mike Pegram. Arthur indicated in his report that thyroxine was suspected to cause heart problems for horses during exercise, and at least four of the sudden deaths involved confirmed or suspected cardiac failure. Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. 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.
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