Exactly as most of us expected, but yeah. Bummer.
$7500 to Baffert doesn’t seem like much now, but with all the money he’s paying out for legal representation, it may be more than we think.
What a sad story. Horse wins biggest race, horse suspected of drugs, horse dies, horse is disqualified. The poor horse lost in this entire story. Sickening….
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All that intrigue about someone creeping into the Baffert barn because there are many who want him to fail, could not POSSIBLY have caused the problems the necropsy report on Medina Spirit showed, that all 4 legs / joints were in dire shape. And we know Gamine was given hock injections for…no reason that we can see. These are young horses. If you have a conditioning program, or barn protocol, that repeatedly ruins or kills young horses—not sure what kinds of justifications can be made over and over and over again. IF that is acceptable, then we cannot very well blame the public for cringing. I am not someone who believes that has to happen though, but bad actors perpetrate that onto the horses and onto our sport.
I do remember the dir of Old Friends saying there are some horses where they can’t even give proper medical treatment because all their veins are shot to heck. If that is part and parcel of the sacred duty we have to care for these animals, then something is very wrong. And I can’t support it. And I’m a huge racing, breeding, pedigree, TB fan all around.
And we are somehow supposed to believe that a barn with many millions of $$ worth of horses have grooms and assistant trainers who can’t read an ingredients label on a veterinary preparation / jar for a horse entering a TC race.
The appeals will fail. The purse will be redistibuted. The end. JV doesn’t get the $ but either does the betting public who put $$ on MS, Which was most likely a huge amount.
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I have a hunch that Zedan is paying his legal bills. "Bob has my full support and backing"
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I may be preaching to the choir here but if this whole mess doesn’t convince people of the need for uniform medication rules then I don’t know what will. The fact that this is a world wide story because it happened on our biggest stage but wouldn’t have been a story at all in many places is a huge problem. If it were the Preakness and not the Derby we would have all been bemoaning there wasn’t a TC on the line at the Belmont as it wouldn’t have been a positive here.
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It is more a matter of actually following through on the rules.
And putting some bite in the enforcement! None of this 5 positives. One and you pay and or sit out a few weeks. By the 5th you either learned not to do it, or you are back cheating at QH racing.
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It’s true. This would not have been such a “story”, or even have been considered such an egregious rule violation, had the latest of Baffert’s violations not been in the Kentucky Derby. Baffert’s history with the other med violations or the thyroxine deaths would not been publicized in the non-racing press if not for the Derby positive.
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I know the $7,500 may not seem like much, but fines aren’t determined by one’s ability to pay. The fine structure covers everyone, from the low level claiming trainer with just a few horses to the mega barns and is supposed to be uniform in application.
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I know that - I was remarking on Event_Horse’s post prior to mine “what’s $7500 to Baffert?”.
All good!
It is not a matter of enforcing the rules though. If that had happened in the Preakness we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all because it wouldn’t be a positive here. We would be talking about how sad it was to lose a Derby winner before he got a chance to stand at stud.
It is kind of crazy to think that the rules are not uniform across the country.
Not that it’s an excuse for anyone to break the rules. But it still seems odd. One would think that the rules for horse welfare should be the same in every state.
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in this case.
If the enforcement had teeth for Teflon Bob, we would not discuss it either.
And I wonder why we obsess with the Derby winner.
Plenty are a flash in the pan. But then again, that is part of the disposable race culture anyhow. They are bred for the sale, and raced for the bettors…welfare is an afterthought, if that much.
And the rules need to be enforced whether it is the 500 dollar claiming race or the Derby, or Breeders Cup.
and the consequences need to be the same for Joe Shmoe from the backside as well as Triple Crown Trainer Broadway Bob.
‘But the Derby’ is the wrong battle cry, IMO.
Sadly the necropsy was inconclusive.
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One reason is because The Derby - the original one run at Epsom since 1780 - has always produced a disproportion number of superb stallions that have become highly influential across the breed. It is a race that tests almost every element of a top class horse.
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What are you talking about? Can’t think of many worse punishments than a DQ from a Derby win.
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I hate to sound like a broken record but you are absolutely wrong in that statement.
Quote from the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance:
The goal of the TAA is to collect a small percentage from every participating entity within the racing industry (stud fees, public auction consignment and purchase, Jockey Club registration, race winnings, racetracks, veterinarians, jockeys) Click here for a list of current participating entities. Since inception in 2012, more than $24.5 million has been granted to accredited organizations. Click here for current list of approved aftercare organizations.
Let me repeat: the TB industry has spent $24,500,000 on TB aftercare in the last 9 years, all of it collected from industry participants.
I challenge any horse-related industry to match that.
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What you said about this barn with millions of dollars worth of horses… A thousand times that. A million times that.
My response, eternally, to the Baffert apologists and loyalists is “at the bare minimum, the best possible scenario has this guy being a crap horseman who can’t manage his barn? And if you’re an owner with a seven-fig purchase, you’re comfortable sending that horse to a barn that’s run looser than a sketchy guided trail ride place or local auction barn?” (apparently yes).
Please.
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Not apologizing for Baffert-but I think it is an real exaggeration to say the Baffert standard of care is the same as a trail ride place or local auction barn. Horse racing is state regulated-- most other riding establisihments do not begin to have the same level of oversight.
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He’s proving that that isn’t the case. State regulated or not; he continues to rack up positive tests and get away with it. It should have never reached this point for him to get reprimanded on the world stage and at the expense of the animals entrusted in his care.
For those who continue to send multi million dollar horses to his stable; is rather alarming. I don’t enjoy those who publicly shame others; but it is rather alarming. I don’t question people’s love for the horse, I know there are many owners who do. But I think some of these multi millionaires who own big stables of very expensive horses do it for the glory and whatever happens to the horses in the barns they hire is out of sight, out of mind. They are paying big bucks to get to the winners circle and for some of these characters; any avenue to get there is fine. I am not implying this is the norm by any means. But I think for many of these high rollers; the animal is an investment to WIN
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As for the necropsy results; I had to look away at some of it. Breaks my heart to see a 3 year old with some of those conditions and for a racing stable to continue on with a horse like that until the point where he would eventually no longer be sound enough to race and would retire to the breeding shed.
I always thought Medina Spirit’s gate and front-end confirmation to be questionable. this head on video of him walking starting at 29 seconds kind of puts that out there. He never looked sound to me in his fore limbs. the make-up of his fore limbs almost looked twisted but it was also really difficult to get any clear look at him because he was always trotting well collected or galloping well collected or breezing. The footage of him walking to the track or in the shed row not in standing wraps was few and far between. There have been many crooked legged horses to go on and do great things but his ambling odd gate at the walk and trot always caught my eye anytime that footage graced the TV during the triple crown.
MEDINA SPIRIT On Track 5-11-2021 - YouTube
As for the soundness; I think Thoroughbreds are a resilient breed. But Bob’s record of drug positives proves the point that there are many therapeutics being used behind the scenes to keep his stable of horses going at their peak. Some of it we will never know and I don’t think his stable is the an anomoly. Just because these stables are racing clean does not mean things are not done on the off days and weeks to keep these horses going for this sport.
At the end of the day the horse suffered. and the horse lost. People’s reputations are tarnished and perhaps “ruined” forever. But those tarnished reputations are only because of a lapse in management and accountability and nothing more. The fact that BB is appealing just shows that no lessons have been learnt and no one from that stable is about to come forth and finally accept the wrongdoing.
At the very end of the day; the horse is the one that is the unfair victim here and that perhaps is the saddest of all . What’s even sadder is amidst all of this and months later; the horse lost his life.
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I spoke to my vet once in testing my dog for exposures to something poisonous- my vet said there are thousands of different poisons and no way to test for them all.
If you look at drug use, there are probably new designer drugs that aren’t going to show up on necropsy and no way of knowing what particular drugs they used in this particular horse. It could have been a random cardiac related death. Or it may not have been. No way of knowing either way at this point. The necropsy didn’t provide much enlightenment on this matter.
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