bob baffert political affiliation

Churchill Downs Draws a Hard Line With Bob Baffert 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 was fined $10,000. And promote he does, chatting with people he met one minute ago as if they were long-lost friends. In his teens, he worked as a jockey for $100 a day in informal Quarter Horse races on the outskirts of Nogales. This America's different." pic . 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. But the sports new governing authority will not take over until mid-2022. FILE - Trainer Bob Baffert walks out to the winner's circle after the Brooklyn Invitational Stakes horse race at Belmont Park, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Elmont, N.Y. . 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. CHRB brass agreed to follow Arthurs suggestion. Several members of the Breeders Cup board have used Baffert as their trainer. Baffert claims the defendants have "unlawfully deprived and will continue to deprive Baffert of his right to due process of law guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment and of his right to. Baffert also trained the 2018 Triple Crown Winner, Justify and the 2020 Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic. In 2021, the post-race test of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit showed 21pg/mL of betamethasone. But hes Bob, he has to speak his mind.. (Pegram and Auerbach did not respond to interview requests. 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. Bafferts breakthrough thoroughbred was Thirty Slews, who won the Breeders Cup Sprint in 1992. The way this case was handled was not a favor for Bob Baffert, Arthur said. Shortly after Petersen sent the analysis of the states chances, the CHRB agreed to settle Ruiss lawsuit. Bob Baffert Family, Parents And Ive warned them that this was not going to stay a secret at the time, he testified of the CHRB, but that was their decision, not mine. (Baedeker, who retired last year, told The Post they couldnt legally disclose the test results because CHRB did not file a complaint.). [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. 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. It elicited little notice; racehorses die by the hundreds per year in California alone. Baffert grew up on a ranch in Nogales, Arizona, where his family raised cattle and chickens. Bob Baffert - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times "We live in a different world now. 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. 'It was cancel culture': Kentucky Derby winner's trainer defends failed Baffert is the biggest name in horse racing, even bigger than the animals he conditions. Garcia left California horse racing the next year, according to CHRB records; he could not be reached for comment by The Post. Grays office told the committee that removing Dr. Arthur from his position, while intentional, is not the sole purpose of the bill, records show. He won his first race on that 1970 afternoon but not as a trainer. [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 deadliest period came between 2000 and 2005, when 34 of Bafferts horses in California died. 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. Doug ONeill, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was one of the few trainers who would talk about Bafferts recent troubles. He routinely challenges most sanctions, usually agreeing to accept fines but vigorously fighting suspensions. But in 2018, Arthur was still on the job when another Baffert-trained horse tested regulators willingness to challenge him. Baffert is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, and has several top prospects for the May 5 race. The lawyer wrote there is evidence suggesting that this matter was handled differently.. 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. Baffert, one of the most legendary trainers in American horse racing, has faced criticism and suspensions after his 2021 Kentucky Derby champion, Medina . He also won the race in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 when run as a Grade I event. 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. Baffert has had more than 30 drug violations in his 44-year career, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. 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. Closing everything and moving forward is in Bobs best interest and the best interest of horse racing. 10, 2022. 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. 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. Last October Gamine was disqualified from third to last in the Kentucky Oaks after betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory, was discovered in the horses system. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. Betamethasone is mostly injected into the joints of horses to ease inflammation and, if the inflammation is reduced, any associated pain subsides. 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. 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. Medina Spirit: Bob Baffert again playing victim in drug controversy [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. [13] In Kentucky, any amount of betamethasone detected in post-race testing is a violation and could result in a disqualification. Darrell Vienna, Ruiss attorney, said he would not have agreed to those stipulations but was not allowed to intervene. He saddled Paynter in the Belmont Stakes later that year, but that colt, like his stablemate Bodemeister, finished second. 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. 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. In 2015, he trained American Pharoah, the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.. On June 9, Justify won the Belmont and the Triple Crown. 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. 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]. Baedeker said that before they made their recommendation to the board, they consulted with the states Office of the Attorney General, for which Petersen works, and received concurrence . [7] Baffert became a 7-time winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2021 with Medina Spirit. 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. His last day as medical equine director is Wednesday. [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. The consolation is knowing the truth will come out as the process plays out. Arthur is retiring at the end of June from a job often consumed by the scandals of a single trainer. Racing officials ruled that the positive test was a result of contamination and the wins of Charlatan and Gamine were restored. 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. At one point, the regulators effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack. In that period, 36% of all cardiac related horse deaths in California were animals trained by Baffert. [8] His first suspension was in 1977 for misuse of morphene, but thereafter he had no violations for the next eight years. Its bizarre, Baedeker said, because you have a deputy attorney general criticizing the board for following the law to the letter.. [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. 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.. 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. Baffert did not have another medication violation for eight years. 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. A A Former President Donald Trump released a statement Sunday about the disputed winner of the Kentucky Derby, saying the controversy reflects the current state of the country. Baffert has also had his share of horse fatalities, the other metric to which his critics point. Mr. 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. And Noodles died May 22 of a non-exercise induced respiratory issue. Baffert won the Derby a third time in 2002 with War Emblem. 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. I told him there would be nothing from CHRB before the KY Derby, unlikely before the Preakness and possibly not until after the Belmont, Arthur wrote. Real Quiet won the Preakness as well, but, like Silver Charm, the horse was denied a Triple Crown win and finished second in the Belmont Stakes by a nose. Its just disheartening. 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. [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. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been suspended from the home of the Kentucky Derby for two years after Medina Spirit's positive post-race drug was confirmed, the company that runs the. He claimed that the horse death data provided by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was not possible.. 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.. 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. Baffert grew up on a cattle and chicken farm in Nogales, Ariz., near the Mexico border. When Arthur delivered his report in November 2013, the bill to remove him from office was still pending. It takes only a minute or so to walk from the racetrack at Santa Anita Park to the barns in back. Before his Kentucky Derby-winning colt, Medina Spirit, tested positive for betamethasone last month which could erase the victory his horses were cited for drug-related violations 29 times, according to the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI). 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. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. Settlement reached over unauthorized Bob Baffert bourbon - The Following the publication of the report, Baffert tweeted: Im gratified that CHRB completed its investigation & found there was no wrongdoing. Bob had the personality and he was honest. Ive heard the rumors on Bobby since we got in the business after winning some Cal Cup races. Yeah, sure, hes a wiseass and irreverent. The bold statement appeared to put Baffert on the right side of history: By the end of the year, President Donald Trump had signed into law the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, which promised to reform the sport. Baffert is America's pre-eminent active trainer. [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. Baffert often speaks of his life as if its a Shakespearean play, humankinds tragedies mingling with his own existential crises. When asked about that plan, attorney Brewster said that in fact 5 Stones did investigate Baffert at the direction of the Jockey Club. Usually, regulatory agencies do not have the guts to do whats fair and right, Arthur testified during a CHRB hearing in October, and this board made that decision appropriately., He conceded that the lack of transparency was unusual. 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. "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. Earlier data was unreliable, the racing publication said. . That investigation led to the indictments that Baffert said spurred him to embrace more oversight, so the cheaters would be quickly caught and punished..

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