Good ol’ Teflon Bob…
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Here we go…
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And some more…
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Finally, something with some real teeth in it.
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As if “Kentucky Derby Ponts” make the world go round.
Many trainers should not have licenses and Baffert is certainly not the only one, just one of the biggest names.
After I saw the Amber Cobb video, I decided that whether or not that was a “one-off” or not, (her groom said it wasn’t but absent proof I just let my own eyes decide)…she lacks the psychological temperment and stability to train horses. Nobody acts like that unless they have a few screws loose. Watching how terrified that young horse was, cross-tied and unable to get away, climbing the walls like that…
For some trainers (and owners), they do.
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Absolutely. I see a legal showdown coming.
When honest and hard working, patient trainers out there are just trying to make a living in every day races, and having to hopscotch thru the cheaters and grfiters, it’s hard for me to put all my sympathy toward mutlimillionaires looking for a derby dream.
Lets clean up racing for reasons other than “some trainners and owners want to get Derby points” is all i was saying…it’s not the be-all-end-all for 99% of everyone IN the racing business. .
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The point is–and I don’t mean to speak for @skydy–we are not sympathetic to those Derby dreamers and their “caught umpteen times but never really sanctioned” trainer.
If racing would finally take down one of its biggest and most well known trainers, that would go a long way toward clearing the air and putting the rest of the cheaters on notice that a reckoning is finally coming.
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Derby points matter to Baffert and his owners, so in this particular instance no Derby points is a big deal.
Meant to answer Winter Triangle not LaurieB
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Exactly. The “little guys” who play by the rules are tired of watching Baffert get away with cheating while they tow the line. Hopefully HISA will address all of the cheaters and abusers by implementing some penalties with teeth.
We are hoping that once Baffert is set down, no one will feel invincible again.
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I doubt they would, since when these yearlings are 3 year olds Baffert will still be suspended by Churchill Downs, and possibly by the NYRA. Owners like to race at Saratoga as well as CD.
Whoops, wrong thread.
Yes I Understand, skdy and .LaurieB.
He’s a crafty one though —When you go after a big kahuna like “Why-is -this-happening-to-me Baffert”, ya better take’ em down the first time, as you don’t often get a 2nd chance because they know a lot about how to do what they’re doing, how to cover their trackcs, and have plenty of $ to pay attorneys.
Too bad USADA wasn’t already in place, because right now I don’t really trust the horse racing PTB to not bungle this.
He was still racing stakes at SAR at that meet recently. Somehow that suprised me but then again, it didn’t.
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NYRA is working on that.
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With regards to the Derby points decision, this is potentially devastating to the Baffert barn if it survives a legal challenge. There are certain national barns out there where a major focus is the trainer can get ambitious owners to the Derby. Qualifying to run in the Derby is as much a skill as getting to the race in one piece and participating in it. In some prominent circles, mares are bred, babies are raised and sales horses are bought with the laser focused goal of putting those horses in the hands of a Derby trainer and Baffert is one of a very small handful of those. Baffert and Pletcher start each year with over 200 2 year olds each trying to get them to the Derby or another TC race. Since owners can’t run in the Derby without qualifying the horse, taking Derby points away from Bob means those owners with that goal have to look elsewhere.
And that is most of them. It’s why an owner is in Baffert’s barn.
This is pretty major. I think it is even bigger than the NYRA decision.
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Genuine inquiry. Baffert is already banned from Churchill Downs, and thus the Derby, in 2022 and 2023 , so why does this matter?
I’m guessing it would prevent owners from having horses qualify for the Derby with Baffert, and then “switching trainers” the week before the Derby, or whenever the cut off is.
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Wow. Just the thought of the logistics involved in that many babies seems crazy. Never mind the rest of the horses they have that are not two-year-olds.
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Thank you. The prospect of that sort of dubious behavior hadn’t occurred to me. Unfortunately it should have.
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You explained it well Pronzini. TY
Also though, wouldn’t some owners may say “this is a chance for ME to get Baffert for a trainer now that he doesn’t have the big name owners going to the Derby” and figuring they can still win plenty of high level stakes races?
