Bafferts attorney argued in court that the trainers May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. Arthur suggested the board retroactively apply it to the Justify case. Horse-racing deaths, like much of the sport, are shrouded by a disjointed bureaucracy. After finishing last season strong, CJ Abrams is ready for more. Some of the earlier violations do give you pause. 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. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Gray's . Bob Bafferts horses have incurred numerous drug violations over the course of his 44 years as a thoroughbred trainer. Two months later, the PAC contributed $2,000 to Grays successful election committee. 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. I went under the radar. There are highs and lows and a lot of disappointment. When a horse dies in California, CHRB records often list medications the horse had been prescribed, based on its medical history. He told reporters that he would fight the issue "tooth and nail. 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. But Clark Brewster, the attorney representing Medina Spirits owner, Amr Zedan, then contacted The Post and described Baffert as being unfairly maligned. [citation needed], According to his supporters, Baffert's style and personality, combined with his success, have made him a target for controversy. That didnt feel appropriate to those of who wanted to see science prevail, Cardoza said. 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 told investigators he used the drug for about five years to build up his horses, which Arthur noted was unusual because it was typically used to slim them down. Clark Brewster, a nationally known trial attorney who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her defamation suit against President Trump, will be Bafferts attorney in any litigation against Churchill Downs. But Californias adoption of ARCI guidelines is not a given. 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. This whole thing is ridiculous, Baffert texted back, according to messages obtained by The Post via public records request. In 2012, Baffert saddled Bodemeister, named for the trainer's youngest son, Bode, to second-place finishes in the Derby and Preakness. During a hearing, records show, Baffert argued the positive test could have been a result of his stable hands eating poppy seed bagels and muffins around the horse. 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. There have been so many false narratives that have come up and the hearing process isnt even done yet. FILE - In this Monday July 12, 2021 file photo, horse trainer Bob Baffert leaves federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Even then, he would not talk about the specifics of the cases against him. Yakteen rose to Bafferts defense and it ended with a scuffle that slightly injured a security guard. 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. 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 . In each instance, the death is investigated. He still has a responsibility as the face of the game but I dont think hell overcome [this] because his personality wont allow him to do it.. 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. In 2000, for instance, another of his horses, Nautical Look, tested positive for morphine, landing Baffert a two-month suspension. [8][37] That case was eventually dismissed as the regulators concluded the facts supported an instance of feed contamination. 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. 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. The 5-year-old mare was the seventh seemingly healthy horse from that barn to drop dead in 16 months. Baffert failed in multiple attempts in Kentucky to overturn the track's ban or the start of his suspension, which began April 4. 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. The New York Racing Assn. 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. 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. "What a way to come back," said Baffert, whose punishment by the Kentucky Horse . "So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," Trump's statement read. In his analysis, Petersen estimated the states chances of winning at trial to be 50 percent. 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. Finding a new director every two to four years would cost $300,000 each time, a committee that analyzed the bill found. It sounds like hes deflecting, Gagliano said of Baffert. The TOC, of which Baffert is still a board member, did not respond to requests for comment. to move forward. Petersen did not respond to an interview request. 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. 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. Bob Baffert wakes up most every day with one thing in mind, winning another Kentucky Derby. Former client Kaleem Shah said, "He will rub people the wrong way by speaking his mind, sometimes he needs to hit the mute button. In a written decision, the stewards stated the CHRB has already ruled on this matter in its August 2018 closed hearing and had followed the law., However, the stewards suggested they would not have made the same decision as the CHRB: It is the Stewards opinion that had this Board of Stewards heard the Justify and Hoppertunity complaints prior to August 23, 2018 both horses would have been disqualified., Ruiss lawyers have since argued in court for the settlement to be rescinded because the stewards refused to make a decision on the merits., I remain convinced that justice has not yet been served, Vienna told The Post, and that hopefully the courts will resolve the matter., The rise and fall of Jorge Navarro, the alleged doping king of horse racing. Bob Baffert Family, Parents The CHRB ruled it was caused by feed contamination, citing six other horses across four barns who also tested positive. As the Kentucky Derby approached, officials began discussing the possibility of contamination that the positive test had been triggered by something Justify ingested. Baffert's attorney argued in court that the trainer's May suspension by the New York Racing Assn. [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 is known for holding court on such ideas at Clockers Corner, a popular hangout for horsemen at Santa Anita Park. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. He was born on January 13, 1953, in Nogales, AZ. The bottom line, he said, is if youre a horse in Bob Bafferts barn, youre there to work.. May 10, 2021. April 29, 2022 9:00 AM. Yeah, sure, hes a wiseass and irreverent. Bob survived a heart attack in late March 2012 while in Dubai for a world-class race at Meydan. Hes good.. The cluster of sudden deaths remains unexplained and there was no evidence whatsoever CHRB rules or regulations have been violated or any illicit activity played a part in the deaths, Arthurs report concluded. 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. 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. The 74 total deaths since 2000 put Baffert third among trainers. The quest to find Jimson weed continued. In 1997, he trained Silver Charm to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, finishing second in the Belmont. 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. 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. There is nothing new here, he wrote. (At least one death of a Baffert horse identified by The Post was not included in the agencys data.) 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 . [33], In February 2022, Baffert was suspended 90 days and fined $7,500 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. [10][12] However, his violations for use of prohibited medications has sparked controversy. 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. 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. 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. How carefully the dosage was followed was not determined, Arthur wrote. Robert A. Baffert is an American Racehorse Trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. 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. 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 basically said something under his control is associated with these fatalities, Arthur said, but regulators couldnt act without evidence of a rules violation. But he said it wasnt clear from the records why the CHRB reversed course on filing a complaint against Baffert. Nothing is held back.. According to protocols, the medication is supposed to have a 14-day withdrawal period. Share on Facebook TWEET This His American Pharaoh horse won the Triple Crown in 2015. The ARCI rules are recommendations, the associations president, Ed Martin, said in an interview.
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