Erm…Of course he does. That doesn’t mean that he’s being truthful. It’s important to keep in mind the old saying, “when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” Which is the more likely scenario: (1) a single barn coincidentally has repeated issues with accidental drug contamination…or…(2) someone is playing fast and loose with the drug rules?
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They were my top two picks. I guess I am a psychic…
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Baffert told the state to have their vets pull hair for testing. He’s that confident Medina Spirit never had betamethasone.
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I’m having a hard time resolving this situation.
Logic says even Baffert wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to bend the rules on something as high profile as the KY Derby. Then again, maybe he has been playing fast and loose with the rules for so long that he can’t help himself. Or maybe he didn’t think he had a shot of hitting the board with this horse so he wasn’t worried. Or maybe someone really is out to get him, although even if that is the case, I am still pissed at him for allowing himself to become such an easy target.
Bottom line, I’m really irritated at Baffert regardless of how or why this happened. Racing doesn’t need the negative press right now (or ever). Even on the odd chance he is “innocent,” he handles these situations so damn poorly that it is lose lose for everyone.
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Unless there are some verified studies wrt betamethasone levels and their detection in equine hair samples, I doubt this will get him far.
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In KY, no use within 14 days and race day must be 0 pico grams.
IIRC, Ron Ellis (I think it was) got a positive on some drug a few years ago where the horse didn’t clear the drug out of their system in time. I believe Ellis owned up to this.
Betamethasone is the same drug that Gamine tested positive for in the G1 Kentucky Oaks.
BB has had (if Medina Spirit’s split is positive) 5, 5! medication violations in the last year (since May 2020).
BB keeps saying Medina Spirit had never had betamethasone and vet records will confirm that. I am not buying that the horse has never had it… just not administered by a licensed vet and IMO there are unscrupulous vets who will risk their license and treat horses with drugs, or make those drugs available, that have limitations on their use.
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There was a federal investigation last year into doping. There are were a number of vets and trainers caught doing doping and some other horrible things. Excerpt from the WA Post:
Before dawn on March 9, 2020, federal agents swarmed Robinson’s Florida home, along with the houses, barns and offices of dozens of others around the country. Soon after, prosecutors unsealed indictments against 29 trainers, veterinarians and others on charges related to supplying and administering performance-enhancing drugs to the animals.
The entire article:
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This is pretty much why I was disappointed a Baffert horse won the Derby.
As lame as Justify was after the Derby, and considering he retired unsound after the Belmont, I have a pretty strong feeling he drugged him into that Triple Crown win.
So I was like, “Here we go again.”
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Need explanation: Heard on the radio that the testing of the second sample could take “months”. Is this true? If so, why did the first test take only a week?
Our news reported that the process of taking the win away and giving it to the horse that placed second is what may take months, maybe years, thru different appealing processes.
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Not sure about that. The latest article in the WA Post said the horse was headed to the Preakness while Baffert was waiting for results of the second sample. That implies it is coming fairly soon. Whether he will be allowed to run is not known as it is being discussed by the Stronach Group.
If the second sample matches the first, Medina Spirit’s win is invalidated. Maybe he could appeal to the Kentucky Racing Commission, but I’m not sure he would be successful. He did win an appeal (sort of) in Arkansas by nitpicking over the sensitivity of the tests. The Derby is a much more high profile race and the you-know-what would hit the fan if the Commission let Baffert get away with it.
This is from the statement from Churchill Downs.
If the original findings are upheld, Churchill downs says Medina Spirit’s results will be “invalidated” and Mandaloun will be declared the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
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This was not a sports radio station so its entirely possible that they said “results of test” when they really were referring to the potential for appeals etc. Thanks, your news makes more sense!
Baffert must be a slow learner.
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I’m pretty disgusted myself but I am trying to keep a couple of things in mind. First of all, picograms are ridiculously minute amounts that have never to my knowledge been shown to affect a horse. These tests aren’t necessarily developed to pick up actually relevant levels that could change an outcome but just because they can. That doesn’t help anything.
Secondly, because they always test the winners of a race, Baffert gets tested a lot. If you combine points one and two, that could lead to a lot of “positives”. In Baffert’s case, the scopolamine a few years ago was probably environmental. The Gamine situation was part of the vagaries of her metabolism. Lots of horses–including sporthorses especially at the highest levels–get injected with lots of stuff and it is not necessarily bad for them or in any way cheating.
With all that said, I really wish it didn’t happen especially in the Derby and to Baffert. It just looks so bad.
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Yes, but. Overall, if you look at many of the top trainers, do they really not win as often as BB does?
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Also think, who all would love to interfere with Baffert?
If he is not the one playing dirty here, where are the residues coming from?
“If he is not the one playing dirty here”? Uh. Why are we playing devil’s advocate for one of the most powerful men in horseracing? What evidence is there that Bob isn’t the one playing dirty? His word? When someone’s had this many residues, their word means verrrry little to me. There’s a saying in veterinary medicine. “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” When I see a big name trainer having the same issue over and over again? A man who has the ability to clamp down on his stable without question - no one in, no one out, especially in the weeks up to the race. Video cameras, guards. Trained folks the only ones handling anything - folks who know what tests and therefore what the hell you should be scared to have just lying around. Why is Bob getting the benefit of the doubt still?
Those hoofbeats are drugged horses, not some zebra gang of backstretch mobsters who somehow have enough pull to get to Bob’s horses and expose them to commonly abused drugs.
My theory? This horse was injected and for whatever reason they failed to do it in a manner that made the horse legal. Maybe they didn’t calculate the withdrawal date appropriately, maybe they got into a bind when this horse came up a little short one day and just prayed he wouldn’t test, maybe Bob just figures no one’s going to actually stop him, after all this is getting to be par for the course and he’s still training the biggest names in racing.
In school I had a teacher with a “funny” racehorse story. A three-year-old racehorse came in to have both knees injected. He and his classmate shaved up the knees and set to work surgically scrubbing them in preparation. The trainer arrived in the middle of this and blew up. The horse was running in a claiming race and he was hoping to unload it. By clipping the knees, the students had left clear evidence that this horse needed injections to stay sound. The trainer apparently tried to rectify things by having them clip all four legs from elbow/stifle to fetlock while the horse was sedated for the injections. Don’t know if it worked or not, but these shady shenanigans absolutely go on in plenty of barns. (Not all trainers or whatever, but PLENTY.) I guarantee you Mr. Don’t-shave-my-horses-for-joint-injections also said his horses never got injected.
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I knew one of those. They very conveniently packed up a lot of valuable and sentimental items and moved them into storage shortly before the fire and the day the house burned they took the dog with them when they left for the day. As of four years after the fire, the insurance agency still had them tied up in arguments, as nobody could quite prove anything. Maybe they were just really lucky. Maybe.
One of those things where you’re like “man, I would make such a good crook compared to these goofs!”
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Getting around vet records is incredibly easy.
Either your primary vet simply doesn’t record everything or you use one vet for things that occur “on the books” and you use another vet for… other things. When they ask for vet records, you send 'em to the regular vet.
Let me tell you, as a vet, even a vet with no ulterior motive can have such shitty medical notes that you can’t tell what was actually done. March 3rd just says “lame, left right.” March 5th says “sound.” Okay, what happened at those visits and in between? Who knows. Will these records get you sent to the boards? If someone complains. Other vets can’t complain, only clients. And if your client likes that your notes don’t mention what drugs may or may not have been used? Well, they’re not going to turn you in.
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Baffert told the state to have their vets pull hair for testing. He’s that confident Medina Spirit never had betamethasone.
This is like me saying “I didn’t kill my husband with rat poison! Test his hair!*” That’s not how you test for rat poison/steroids. Hair is great for things like heavy metal poisoning, but as @Ghazzu said, unless there is some brand new test out there, hair testing won’t prove sh** about betamethasone exposure. The gold standard the regulators stand by is the confirmation test they’re already planning to carry out. It’s convenient that Baffert brazenly offered a test the regulators can’t use. His true believers will use this as evidence that he’s being forthcoming and the regulators were afraid to (uselessly) test the hair because Baffert’s innocent and they’re out to get him.
Last post for the night, I swear, but this situation is ridiculous. The folks at the top “fighting” for the sport are also the ones poisoning its public perception. Baffert gave an interview about Santa Anita being safe and mid-interview a horse suffered a catastrophic injury. Horse number 22 dead in the middle of his defense of the track’s 21 recent (at the time) deaths.
*I do not have a husband, and that is not because of rat poison - I promise.
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