Hes Mr. Teflon.. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Churchill Downs goes after suspended trainer Bob Baffert with new policy. Horse trainer Bob Baffert on Monday argued that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had been a victim of "cancel culture" after the horse failed a postrace drug test . 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. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual. Hes a very unique personality, a unique sense of humor. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. Its so obvious. Racing officials ruled that the positive test was a result of contamination and the wins of Charlatan and Gamine were restored. 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. The drug was again betamethasone, and Baffert again expressed shock and vowed to clear his name. 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. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. You could trust him and that never changed.. Hes the person few in the business want to talk about, but everyone wants to hear about. It was an easy suspension to serve as Baffert was in school and not doing much training. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. Asked whether he was surprised by the finding that Bafferts barn was the deadliest in California, Roberts laughed. Bafferts breakthrough thoroughbred was Thirty Slews, who won the Breeders Cup Sprint in 1992. Baffert often speaks of his life as if its a Shakespearean play, humankinds tragedies mingling with his own existential crises. The new classification simply makes more sense pharmacologically, Arthur wrote. . Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. [33], In February 2022, Baffert was suspended 90 days and fined $7,500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Another person who came to Bafferts defense was his former assistant Tim Yakteen, who now runs his own stable. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. This included Baffert's home track at Santa Anita, although Baffert horse Shaaz won the sixth race on April 2. This pattern has bred frustration among some horsemen. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. 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. 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. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested. 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. Baffert is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. [42] He had been paid $200,000 to allow the Burger King to stand behind him in the grandstand during the televised broadcast of the Belmont, after having turned down $150,000 to allow the mascot to appear with him at the Preakness. The week after Justify won the Preakness, bringing him to the cusp of the Triple Crown, test results came back showing the plant they had tested was milkweed. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. Its not often that a sport turns against its biggest star, but Churchill Downs has taken that stand. [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. 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. Nine died in 2000, all but one from breakdowns. 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. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. 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. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of the second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has sued the CHRB. 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. Some of the earlier violations do give you pause. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. 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. The colt lost the Belmont Stakes after breaking poorly from the starting gate. Trainer Bob Baffert celebrates after his horse, Authentic, won the Kentucky Derby in September 2020. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. On a recent afternoon, Baffert appeared largely unperturbed by the firestorm surrounding him when he answered his door in Arcadia, Calif. This is the first Ive learned of it, Baffert responded when told of The Posts finding that he had the highest rate of horse deaths among other top trainers in the state. 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. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. Cherwa also contributes general interest stories from Florida. California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. But by August, the plan had changed. He's saddled. Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. 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. Hollywood Park closed in 2013, and the saga of the dead horses there faded quickly from the headlines. The trainer was Baffert. From there, he moved to racing at recognized tracks, scoring his first victory at age 17 in 1970. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. 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.. Teflon."[11]. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOCs political action committee, California records show. Less than two weeks later, Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. 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. By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. [24], On May 17, 2021, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) banned Baffert from entering Medina Spirit or any of his other horses in the 2021 Belmont Stakes or any other race at Belmont Park. Following the 2015 Belmont win, Baffert outlined several charities that he and his wife Jill supported. 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. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. In New York, chefs are redefining it. On at least 14 occasions, Baffert has been caught racing a horse with more than the allowable amount of bute in its system, according to a review of ARCI data, making it his most common offense. 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. Bob Baffert Family, Parents This America's different." pic . 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.