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. 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. There wasnt any question in my mind, he said recently. This included Baffert's home track at Santa Anita, although Baffert horse Shaaz won the sixth race on April 2. Per Baffert, barn staff including grooms, were involved in administering the thyroxine in feed.. I dont see somebody who is doping horses, Martin said after reviewing Bafferts drug-related history. The suspension was scheduled to run March 8 through June 5. We live and work in a fishbowl, with rumors and accusations flowing constantly, Baffert said. Once again, the Hall of Fame. 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]. It will all be settled by lawyers and judges and that takes time. 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. 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. The colt skipped the Belmont Stakes but became the champion three-year-old colt that year. ), Among the TOCs central crusades was countering the movement against Lasix. 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. 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. Medina Spirit departed Churchill Downs in a van before dawn on Monday, bound for Baltimore (a horse van, not Jeff Spicoli's VW bus ). Following the publication of the report, Baffert tweeted: Im gratified that CHRB completed its investigation & found there was no wrongdoing. Does the drug that could strip Medina Spirit of a Kentucky Derby win enhance performance? Its all because of his success.. Baedeker this week acknowledged that they handled the process more slowly than usual. His last day as medical equine director is Wednesday. He declined to answer further questions. This America's different." pic . Arthur B. Hancock III, a prominent thoroughbred owner, has for three decades been a leading proponent for eradicating drugs from the sport. Following the 2015 Belmont win, Baffert outlined several charities that he and his wife Jill supported. 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. And he pushes the envelope to the extent that they give their lives for his bank account.. There is nothing new here, he wrote. 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. But in 2019, he was banned from Santa Anita Park and affiliated tracks after four of his horses died there in six months. Drop dead while galloping, read a California Horse Racing Board vets account of the first horses death in November 2011. Bell told an investigator he then checked other bales and found a branch and pods he thought were Jimson weed in the parking lot. All they show is contamination, and they have really put the trainers heads on the chopping blocks. Board member Michael E. Pegram had for decades hired Baffert to train his top horses, including the winner of the 1998 Kentucky Derby, Real Quiet. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019. But Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. CHRB brass agreed to follow Arthurs suggestion. 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. We went there with expectations not very high. Baffert sued in federal court, claiming the two months off could cost him $11 million in purses. Baffert also has wielded unmatched clout when regulators have discovered banned or excessive substances in his horses. But when factoring in the number of races run, Bafferts horses have died at the highest rate of the 10 trainers who have had the most horse deaths. 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. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. 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. The testing levels have become ridiculous, Baffert told a conference of racehorse veterinarians during his keynote speech in 2000, according to a trade publication. 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. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview. Like Baffert, Hollendorfer is in the thoroughbred Hall of Fame. Why would people want to be betting on horses when there are allegations and there are real positives and hes getting off on technicalities.. [7] Baffert became a 7-time winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2021 with Medina Spirit. 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. According to Arthurs report, he found that Baffert was dispensing Thyro-L, or thyroxine, a prescription thyroid hormone, to all horses in his care. Kentucky regulators taped calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test. Bob survived a heart attack in late March 2012 while in Dubai for a world-class race at Meydan. Bob Baffert Family, Parents But Californias adoption of ARCI guidelines is not a given. 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. 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. Hes Mr. Teflon.. Baffert said the horse was off the drug for 18 days before the race. 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 CHRB officially opened an investigation. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our equine and human athletes, Baffert wrote, and nothing impacts their health and safety more than the policies and procedures concerning drugs.. While he allowed that the case was handled differently because of the Triple Crown ramifications, the special treatment had nothing to do with the horses trainer. Baffert was fined $10,000. Anybody who walks with that swagger, people are going to love him or hate him, Pegram said. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. Former Democratic congressman Dennis Cardoza, also on the board, was co-owner with Pegram of Shakin It Up, a successful thoroughbred trained by Baffert. The board agreed not to disqualify Justify. 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. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . None of them are considered performance-enhancing in the traditional sense, such as amphetamines or speedballs. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. [8][37] That case was eventually dismissed as the regulators concluded the facts supported an instance of feed contamination. His American Pharaoh horse won the Triple Crown in 2015. 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. And Madeline Auerbach, who later became a CHRB commissioner, had partnered with Baffert in thoroughbred breeding. 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. Now 68, Baffert is seeing his livelihood and reputation under attack after a series of medication infractions have made him an outcast to some in the industry and a pariah to many more outside of it. Instead of promptly filing a public complaint against Baffert, the CHRB kept the positive result secret while Arthur conducted a lengthy investigation. The colt lost the Belmont Stakes after breaking poorly from the starting gate. 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. He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. "[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. Ruis horse, Bolt dOro, finished second. It sounds like hes deflecting, Gagliano said of Baffert. 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. Horse trainer Bob Baffert, left, leaves federal court in Brooklyn on July 12. [As for whats going on now,] I dont like it but Im dealing with it. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. 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. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. A CHRB spokesman said the agency could not comment or make any employees available for an interview, citing the pending litigation. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. 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. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. 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. Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Baffert trained Lookin At Lucky, co-owned by Mike Pegram, to win the Preakness Stakes in 2010. 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. He followed it with six more Derbies, two of which launched Triple Crown runs, with American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. After the Times broke the news of the positive drug test, Ruis sued the CHRB in January 2020. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. When Did threshold change and what were they before?, No amount of betamethasone is permitted in Kentucky races now, Borden wrote. He married his second wife, Jill, a former television reporter based in Louisville, in 2002. [21][22] Sports Illustrated suggested that the positive drug test was a sign that Baffert's "leaking credibility" had reached "the saturation point. 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. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. Yeah, sure, hes a wiseass and irreverent. 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. The owner was Kaleem Shah. [38] This reminded the public that since 2000, at least 74 other horses had died while in Baffert's stables. No sanctions were issued against Baffert.[40][41]. The goal, the people familiar said, was to get Baffert to support languishing reforms in the sport. He has never apologized to the public for trashing the game. He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. Its so obvious. The longest his suspension from Kentucky would be is 30 days, which would be honored by all racing jurisdictions. 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 . [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. 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 . Racing officials ruled that the positive test was a result of contamination and the wins of Charlatan and Gamine were restored. It was an easy suspension to serve as Baffert was in school and not doing much training. Horse trainer Bob Baffert before the 2020 Breeders Cup at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. Trainer Bob Baffert pets an outriders horse while watching workouts at Churchill Downs in April. But the sports new governing authority will not take over until mid-2022. It was later discovered that horses from separate barns had also tested positive. Baffert is the biggest name in horse racing, even bigger than the animals he conditions. I told him I thought there was a good indication that these were feed contamination.. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. See, I bet you didnt know I was a jockey? Baffert said. In fact, Bafferts horses, at 8.3 deaths per 1,000 starts, have died at a significantly higher rate than Hollendorfers, at 6.25. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. 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. What we knew about horses you could put in a thimble. 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. 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. Being a horse trainer is tough enough because its such an up-and-down, emotional roller coaster, Baffert said. 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 . 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. [15], At a news conference on May 9, Baffert initially said that Medina Spirit was never administered betamethasone. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. Rick Baedeker, who was executive director of the CHRB before retiring last year, said the boards decisions were carefully considered to avoid treating Baffert differently than any other trainer. After the test result was revealed, Mick Ruis, the trainer and owner of the Santa Anita Derbys runner-up, sued the CHRB, claiming Justifys win should have been erased. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. One of his grooms, Clemintino Abrego Garcia, testified that Baffert called him three or four times attempting to get him to admit that he had eaten baked goods near the horse. 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. He views himself as an ambassador for the sport. 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. On May 5, Justify won the Kentucky Derby, upping the stakes of the investigation. Horse owner and racing reform advocate Barry Irwin has stated, "He's Mr. In 1997 he won his first Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm. But in the most recent election in June, he finished seventh of eight, the only incumbent beaten. Trainer Bob Baffert celebrates after his horse, Authentic, won the Kentucky Derby in September 2020. 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. [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. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. 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. A week after that, Baffert learned of the positive test. Arthur also presented exercise histories for the horses that showed they worked harder than average. CHRB regulations state that its foreign substances guidelines are based on ARCI recommendations as modified by the state board. Baffert has trained horses that won fifteen American Classic Races, fifteen Breeders' Cup races, four Dubai World Cups and the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. Baffert won his first race as a thoroughbred trainer Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to a victory at Rillito in Arizona. Decorated racehorse trainer who won multiple Kentucky Derbies, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. [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. The CHRB had not adopted that recommendation. If they didnt adopt those rules, the rules that prevail are the ones they adopted.. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. Baffert says he plans to seek legal recourse wherever necessary. This horse was going to run at the Triple Crown, Arthur said. On June 2, with the Belmont Stakes a week away, the owner of a feed operation showed up at the CHRB office carrying plant samples he said he found more than a month earlier, the records show. Nothing is held back.. It bothers me when hes not considered the Kentucky Derby winner.. "We live in a different world now. 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. Yeah, but thats what drives him. California counts all fatalities of horses in a trainers care, including breakdowns during training, not just racing deaths. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested. All of the drugs were legal, just not in the amounts found on race day. The horse is scheduled to run Saturday in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita. In 2000, for instance, another of his horses, Nautical Look, tested positive for morphine, landing Baffert a two-month suspension. It went exactly according to the lawyers plan. [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 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. Despite the cautious approach of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which five months later still has not acted on the drug positive, or disqualified, Medina Spirit, Churchill Downs suspended the trainer for two years. American Pharoah next won the 140th Preakness Stakes, making six victories in that race for Baffert, who also finished fourth with Dortmund. When he was 10, his father purchased some Quarter Horses and he practiced racing them on a dirt track. The scheme involved digging up drug-related dirt on Baffert and then telling him that the evidence could disappear tomorrow if he were to endorse the federal reforms of the sport, one of the people said. 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. John Cherwa is a special contributor to the Los Angeles Times. Asked whether he was surprised by the finding that Bafferts barn was the deadliest in California, Roberts laughed. The veterinarian chalked up Bafferts response to ignorance. 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.. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . 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. By then, Bafferts encounters with regulators dated back decades, to 1977, when he served a yearlong suspension for racing a horse on morphine. It wasnt long before Baffert was making pocket change riding the horses in match races. A recent conversation about the tragedy of horse deaths wended its way back to the defense of his reputation. After Arthur cleared Baffert of wrongdoing, the legislation was abandoned. I think much of the GOP political party is moving too far to the right. Bafferts breakthrough thoroughbred was Thirty Slews, who won the Breeders Cup Sprint in 1992. Grays office told the committee that removing Dr. Arthur from his position, while intentional, is not the sole purpose of the bill, records show. It was then that Baffert, one of the most accessible trainers in horse racing, stopped talking until this week. We have a real conundrum to sort out, Arthur wrote in an email to top CHRB officials, explaining he believed a disqualification would be terribly unfair. More than a year earlier, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, which creates model rules for the sports various state bodies, had reclassified scopolamine from a 3/B to a 4/C drug.