Hal Earnhardt, an Arizona car dealer and Bafferts oldest client, introduced him to Pegram, who made his money in fast-food franchising. Thats much higher than the Jockey Clubs widely cited national rates, which never exceed two deaths per 1,000 starts. The attorney generals office referred all questions to the CHRB. Hes always wanted to be a rock star and some people dont think racing should have one.. State investigators found that his staff was mixing a potentially dangerous prescription drug into the feed of every horse in his care. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. Four months later, during a confidential executive session, Arthur and CHRB Director Rick Baedeker recommended that the commissioners not move forward with the disqualification of Justify, arguing that the scopolamine positive was probably the result of contamination from jimson weed. It was then that Baffert, one of the most accessible trainers in horse racing, stopped talking until this week. 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. [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. [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. You wouldnt know it now.. Baffert said in his autobiography it was a combination of ignorance and desperation. 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. 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. If they didnt adopt those rules, the rules that prevail are the ones they adopted.. By age 20, he had developed a reputation as a trainer and was hired by other trainers to run their stables. Baffert won his first race as a thoroughbred trainer Jan. 28, 1979, saddling Flipper Star to a victory at Rillito in Arizona. I guess I'm more of an "old school" Republican. Jerry Hollendorfer has the most deaths with 122. Only once has a Kentucky Derby winner been disqualified for a medication violation. Why would people want to be betting on horses when there are allegations and there are real positives and hes getting off on technicalities.. Most were for excessive use of phenylbutazone, a commonly used anti-inflammatory known as bute. [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. [31][32] Additional charges were added on January 3, 2022. Other trainers seem to navigate just fine.. Some of my friends swear that I'm actually a conservative Democrat. He declined to answer further questions. [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 Bafferts critics say his conduct after penning the article calls into question his seriousness about reform. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks . 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. It didnt take Baffert long to dominate Rillito Park and Prescott Downs in Arizona. 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. Ruis horse, Bolt dOro, finished second. I went under the radar. But they dont usually die in a cluster from a single barn for no clear reason. Its all right there in black and white; thats all I can say., ARCI President Ed Martin said the rules limiting race-day medications have been tightened not out of concern for performance enhancement but to prevent breakdowns. He built up his training business a step at a time and acquired some prominent owners. 10, 2022. 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. 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. Its more the friendship that I miss. 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. And Bafferts veterinarians were prescribing it at his request without conducting laboratory tests to see whether the horses needed the drug, according to Arthurs later report. Gray declined to be interviewed for this story, instead issuing a statement declaring that the personal vendettas of others, perceived or otherwise, play no roll [sic] in the legislation I carry. His spokesman added that campaign contributions do not affect Grays policy proposals. 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. He has never apologized to the public for trashing the game. This article was published more than1 year ago. 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. Being a horse trainer is tough enough because its such an up-and-down, emotional roller coaster, Baffert said. He saddled Paynter in the Belmont Stakes later that year, but that colt, like his stablemate Bodemeister, finished second. In 1977, as a part-time trainer, he was suspended for a year when one of his horses tested positive for morphine. On May 5, Justify won the Kentucky Derby, upping the stakes of the investigation. Its so obvious. Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. "[10], However, over 30 horses Baffert trained have failed drug tests. 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.. Hollendorfers lawyer, Drew Couto, has claimed his client is being unfairly blamed for a high-profile spike of deaths at the track. May 10, 2021. 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. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. But even in those cases, which were handled according to established rules, the horses were disqualified and their winning purses were forfeited. 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. At the time, she was 42-years-old. 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. was. 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. 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. He started at The Times in 1980 and left in 1995 to be sports editor of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Co. sports coordinator in 2002. 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. How carefully the dosage was followed was not determined, Arthur wrote. The winner's share of the $600 purse was $330. Baffert went to federal court and had the suspension overturned, but NYRA has called a scheduling conference on the trainer for Oct. 11. The public backlash, including a letter written by a gay. In each instance, the death is investigated. CHRB regulations state that its foreign substances guidelines are based on ARCI recommendations as modified by the state board. This whole thing is ridiculous, Baffert texted back, according to messages obtained by The Post via public records request. The previous August, Bob Baffert Racing Stables had donated $1,000 to the TOC's political action committee, California records show. A recent conversation about the tragedy of horse deaths wended its way back to the defense of his reputation. 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.. He paused, then added: Ive learned who my friends are.. Some would argue, though, that if it makes a horse less uncomfortable, it improves their performance. If the complaint was ruled on quickly enough, it would have made Justify ineligible for the Kentucky Derby. In fact, at some point Id like to get back together with Bob, Shah said. Gagliano, the Jockey Club president, denied that the group had any knowledge of whom 5 Stones investigated, outside of the eventual indictments. A New York federal judge on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 nullified the suspension of horse trainer Bob Baffert, finding that the New York Racing Association acted unconstitutionally by failing to let him adequately respond to claims made against him after Kentucky . The hearing for a preliminary injunction began in federal court on Thursday afternoon, continuing a nearly two-year-long legal battle between Baffert and the racetrack following his suspension back in 2021. Citrus Feed Companys Larry Bell has long supplied Baffert with feed and has previously testified in Bafferts defense, according to CHRB records. In fact, Bafferts horses, at 8.3 deaths per 1,000 starts, have died at a significantly higher rate than Hollendorfers, at 6.25. 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. 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 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. Baffert is the biggest name in horse racing, even bigger than the animals he conditions. It takes only a minute or so to walk from the racetrack at Santa Anita Park to the barns in back. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. He made the jump to Los Alamitos, where he was running against such legends as Wayne Lukas. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. Nonetheless, in that case, Arkansas suspended Baffert for 15 days. By the April 1 ruling, Baffert had already transferred four 3-year-old colts to other trainers. His white hair, tinted glasses and accessibility make him a natural to promote the sport. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. It subsequently said any horses running for a suspended trainer (Baffert) would not be eligible for Kentucky Derby or Oaks qualifying points. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. Between November 2011 and March 2013, however, Baffert had seven of his horses die of sudden death, not on the race track.

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