bob baffert political affiliation bob baffert political affiliation

Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Bafferts Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested. 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. The positive test only emerged when the New York Times reported it more than a year later. 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. Bafferts lawyers have made explicit that he will accept fines but not a suspension, and state regulators have continually obliged him. 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. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. followed up and ruled Baffert would not be allowed to run in New York. But Arthurs report said Hollywood Park used a different sort of poison than that found in the necropsy. Other people may have made a different decision, but to say that there was no basis for that decision is pure bulls---, said Arthur, who announced his retirement this year. 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. Please answer some questions in this short survey about professional soccer and the 2022 Men's FIFA World Cup. Baffert is the biggest name in horse racing, even bigger than the animals he conditions. The horse is scheduled to run Saturday in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. Its just disheartening. By Marty Irby. 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. The testing levels have become ridiculous, Baffert told a conference of racehorse veterinarians during his keynote speech in 2000, according to a trade publication. 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. Bob Baffert has moved his way up the ladder to the extent that he has the most influential, the wealthiest owners in the industry, that he takes on the highest-quality horses possible because he wins races. In the next six months, three of his horses tested positive for banned or excessive substances four times in California, Arkansas and Kentucky. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. [2] Baffert and his family reside in California. For every Baffert defender, you can find someone on the other side. 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. We live and work in a fishbowl, with rumors and accusations flowing constantly, Baffert said. [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 failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. 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. 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. 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]. And in the 13 months following his essay in The Post, Bafferts horses tested positive for prohibited or excessive substances five times in three states. The New York Racing Assn. Baffert also has wielded unmatched clout when regulators have discovered banned or excessive substances in his horses. 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.. Its not often that a sport turns against its biggest star, but Churchill Downs has taken that stand. Carson Valley was killed in a freak accident in 2019 at Del Mar when a loose horse crashed into the Baffert trainee. He has also won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes once. They had a son in 2004 whom they named "Bode" (/bodi/ BOH-dee), after skier Bode Miller. The first two infractions occurred in May 2020, when the horses Charlatan and Gamine tested positive in Arkansas for lidocaine, a numbing agent. In 2012, Baffert saddled Bodemeister, named for the trainer's youngest son, Bode, to second-place finishes in the Derby and Preakness. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. Less than two weeks later, Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. This America's different." pic . Once again, the Hall of Fame. Arthur is retiring at the end of June from a job often consumed by the scandals of a single trainer. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual. 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. Baffert was granted a stay until April 4 to gain time for an appeal. The goal, the people familiar said, was to get Baffert to support languishing reforms in the sport. His white hair, tinted glasses and accessibility make him a natural to promote the sport. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. 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. Several members of the Breeders Cup board have used Baffert as their trainer. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has successfully appealed his 15-day suspension to the Arkansas Racing Commission, allowing the six-time Kentucky Derby winner to resume preparations to run 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. Real Quiet won the race that year, and Baffert also finished third with Indian Charlie. 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.. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. 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. By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. . But until now, those violations, some of which Baffert has succeeded in getting overturned or reduced, have resulted in roughly $20,000 in fines against $321 million in career earnings. He built up his training business a step at a time and acquired some prominent owners. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. The 74 total deaths since 2000 put Baffert third among trainers. 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. Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance. Baffert said the horse ingested hay after a groom, who was taking cough medicine, had urinated in the horses stall. 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. Only once has a Kentucky Derby winner been disqualified for a medication violation. Baffert, however, wouldnt change the outcome. Political Cartoons. Arthur said the TOC was behind the effort to oust him because of his criticism of Lasix. Bob survived a heart attack in late March 2012 while in Dubai for a world-class race at Meydan. 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. 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. 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. Theres one thing that I will say positive about Bob is that he is a horseman. And he does know generally when to stop on a horse.. Racing officials ruled that the positive test was a result of contamination and the wins of Charlatan and Gamine were restored. Baffert's attorney argued in court that the trainer's May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our country. 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. Medina Spirit died after a training session on 6 December 2021 and an ensuing necropsy on 11 February 2022 was inconclusive. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . He was fined $1,500. Baffert, however, became the first trainer in history to win the Derby and Preakness in back-to-back years. After winning the Santa Anita Derby in April of that year, Bafferts Justify tested positive for scopolamine, a banned substance, which normally would have disqualified the victory and made the horse ineligible to run in that years Kentucky Derby. This time, he aided the CHRBs search for Jimson weed. Time after time its not his fault. His most serious infraction was also his first. He routinely challenges most sanctions, usually agreeing to accept fines but vigorously fighting suspensions. 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. Some of the earlier violations do give you pause. That was one of the most exciting and enjoyable Derbies, Baffert said. Kentucky regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test. The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. But in the most recent election in June, he finished seventh of eight, the only incumbent beaten. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. Were going to get through it.. Hes a very unique personality, a unique sense of humor. Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. [13] In Kentucky, any amount of betamethasone detected in post-race testing is a violation and could result in a disqualification. He tried his hand at substitute teaching before he started training horses full time. [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. But even in those cases, which were handled according to established rules, the horses were disqualified and their winning purses were forfeited. See, I bet you didnt know I was a jockey? Baffert said. 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. Following the 2015 Belmont win, Baffert outlined several charities that he and his wife Jill supported. Baedeker and Arthur said in interviews that no matter how it was handled it would have been impossible to resolve the case that quickly. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. It hurts racing., In the same speech, Baffert agitated for the continued use of Lasix, which is popular with trainers but increasingly criticized as a potential performance-enhancer and masking agent for other drugs. 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. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. [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. [10] Though number of racing starts are used to calculate rates of death for all horses in the care of race trainers, not all horse deaths were animals in race training nor were they necessarily race-related fatalities. "We live in a different world now. 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 did not win another classic race until 2001, when he won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with eventual Hall of Fame member Point Given. 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. In 2015, the Daily Herald ran a profile on Jill Baffert, explaining that she was a former journalist and waitress from Centerville. In the settlement, which records show did not include monetary damages, CHRB agreed to file a complaint against Justify. The attorney generals office referred all questions to the CHRB. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. 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.. 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. Baffert has trained horses that won fifteen American Classic Races, fifteen Breeders' Cup races, four Dubai World Cups and the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. Its not uncommon to find trainers who dont understand medications and how different medications work, Arthur said. And promote he does, chatting with people he met one minute ago as if they were long-lost friends. Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Medina . When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. [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. 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. He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. "[29][30] On September 10, 2021 Baffert was charged by NYRA for conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing. The TOC, of which Baffert is still a board member, did not respond to requests for comment. The bill was introduced by California Assemblyman Adam Gray, a former aide to Cardoza who had been in office for less than three months. Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of the second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has sued the CHRB. Arthur is the CHRBs primary advisor on drug testing, according to state code; the role of determining penalties in individual cases falls to its stewards and commissioners. PUBLISHED 9:20 AM ET Jul. 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. 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. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. Baffert's history in the American classic races began in 1996 when he trained a three-year-old colt named Cavonnier, who ran second in the Kentucky Derby. Citrus Feed Companys Larry Bell has long supplied Baffert with feed and has previously testified in Bafferts defense, according to CHRB records. [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 in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. 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 . Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this years Kentucky Derby. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. 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. Tinsley declined to comment. Bob had the personality and he was honest. Gray said at the time that the bill also would increase the institutional knowledge of Californias central horse drug-testing lab. Bob Baffert blamed "cancel culture" after his horse, Medina Spirit, who won the Kentucky Derby, failed its post-race drug test. 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. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. 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 . 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. [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. The CHRB officially opened an investigation. Until this summer, Baffert was the longest-serving member on the board of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, having been elected in 2007. (The trainer and jockey usually get 10 percent each.) The substance was indeed Jimson weed. The month after that, Grays bill to limit Arthurs term was passed out of a committee. 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. . LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Testimonies have begun in the case of horse trainer Bob Baffert against Churchill Downs. In fact, at some point Id like to get back together with Bob, Shah said. There is nothing new here, he wrote. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Grays successful election committee. It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. Arthur, the equine medical director, took issue with Petersens legal finding that the CHRBs handling of the case could be declared arbitrary or capricious. (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. On Monday, Bell confirmed he helped with the search, adding Jimson weed has plagued California for years.. 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. [19][20] On May 11, Baffert stated Medina Spirit had dermatitis, for which an ointment containing betamethasone was used. He paused, then added: Ive learned who my friends are.. Pegram persuaded Baffert to try thoroughbreds. [14] It was Baffert's fifth violation in 13 months. Last October Gamine was disqualified from third to last in the Kentucky Oaks after betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory, was discovered in the horses system. In July 2020, Merneith tested positive for dextromethorphan, a drug commonly used in cough medicine. Baffert sued in federal court, claiming the two months off could cost him $11 million in purses. There wasnt any question in my mind, he said recently. 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. 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. Does the drug that could strip Medina Spirit of a Kentucky Derby win enhance performance? All of the explanations for the positive drug tests are plausible, but collectively they raise questions. The colt skipped the Belmont Stakes but became the champion three-year-old colt that year. Gary Fenton, chairman of the TOC, declined to be interviewed. Baffert trained Lookin At Lucky, co-owned by Mike Pegram, to win the Preakness Stakes in 2010. Nonetheless, in that case, Arkansas suspended Baffert for 15 days. 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 dark side of Bob Baffert's reign. He saddled Paynter in the Belmont Stakes later that year, but that colt, like his stablemate Bodemeister, finished second. 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. When Arthur delivered his report in November 2013, the bill to remove him from office was still pending. In the 1980s, Baffert moved to California and worked at Los Alamitos Race Course, where he switched to training Thoroughbreds full-time in 1991. [9] Point Given was nominated in 2009, but elected and inducted in 2010. In that period, 36% of all cardiac related horse deaths in California were animals trained by Baffert. By then, Arthur already had a years-long, tangled history with Baffert. "[23] On June 2, 2021, Medina Spirit's split sample also tested positive and Churchill Downs suspended Baffert through the end of the 2023 Spring Meet. It sounds like hes deflecting, Gagliano said of Baffert. Closing everything and moving forward is in Bobs best interest and the best interest of horse racing. [38] This reminded the public that since 2000, at least 74 other horses had died while in Baffert's stables. 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. 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. was unconstitutional after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test. It bothers me when hes not considered the Kentucky Derby winner.. 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. Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. His American Pharaoh horse won the Triple Crown in 2015. The Post reported this month that Arthur had previously studied a spate of sudden horse deaths in Bafferts barn. Great Read: Bob Baffert has come a long way in horse racing, Santa Anita opens Friday as prelude to Breeders Cup at Del Mar, Surging Crespi receives another strong performance from sophomore Diego Velazquez, High school baseball and softball: Fridays scores, With Marcus Morris sidelined, Clippers look to stabilize lineup and rotations, With their playoff lives at stake, Darvin Ham challenges Lakers effort and urgency.