Medina Spirit fails drug test

[skydy]

Above TDN article updated, for those who read it soon after I posted it.

Seems like a pretty sharp judge. He is taking away any complaint that Baffert may use, in court on April 4th, of not having had time to make arrangements for the owners of the horses he trains to be able to race in the upcoming 3 Y/O stakes races with another trainer, should he not prevail in the April 4th hearing.

It seems as if Baffert’s attorneys tried to argue the irreparable harm of an athletes exclusion from an event or events. Am I the only one who had a giggle at this quote from the judge?

From TDN;

“Athletes have a finite period of eligibility or peak performance,” Wingate continued. “However, Baffert is not an athlete. He is a trainer, much more akin to a coach. Unlike certain athletes whose careers are subject to a small window of eligibility or period of peak performance, Baffert’s career has spanned decades and will continue following this brief suspension. In fact, Baffert has expressed his intent to continue in his chosen profession. The horses under Baffert’s care–the athletes–do possess a finite window of eligibly and peak performance.

“However, those horses can still race. Any harm that Baffert will suffer from not participating in the 2022 Triple Crown or other races during his period of suspension will result in monetary loss.”

Good try, but everyone knows that the horses will be running in the races, and their names are not Bob.

[Ghazzu]

This is reminiscent of the time when Gene LaCroix sued the then AHSA over a suspension, telling the judge that he was the pre-eminent Arabian trainer in the US, and that his clients would be irreparably harmed by any suspensions.

That didn’t work for him.

[skydy]

[skydy]

I think Baffert will be hard pressed to find a sympathetic judge in Kentucky at this point in time.

[Unfforgettable]

OMG, I had forgotten about that! I laughed so hard when that happened.

[skydy]

Here is the precedent that Judge Wingate believes will keep Baffert from the likelihood of success upon appeal (which is interesting, in that it is an appeals court overturn of Judge Wingate’s ruling on an earlier case.)

From Paulick Report;

*“If the agency’s statutory mandate were interpreted to create a right to run horses carrying drugs unless an effect of the drug could be proven, every drug violation would turn into a science contest. There are scores (or more) of other drugs for which there are no studies on how the drug affects a horse. There would be no predictability and consistency in decisions. Abandoning zero-tolerance would transfer to the courts a task the legislature has delegated to an agency’s expertise, and would make all drug regulations perpetually subject to change, thereby crippling the agency’s ability to perform its statutory mandate.”

Wingate wrote that he found that conclusion “instructive” and that “the actual effect of a banned drug is irrelevant. Therefore, Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success.”

[Mara]

Another salient point as stated in the TDN article is that economic harm isn’t regarded as “irreparable” under Kentucky law.

So that rug got yanked out from under Bobberino’s feet.

[skydy]

I think his attorneys knew that, and that’s why they posited that it would “put him out of business permanently”, and also cause him irreparable harm because he’d miss this years triple crown races and he could never get those races back.

The “putting out of business permanently” could be argued as more than financial harm, (keeping a person from their chosen profession or vocation) but it’s obvious that a 90 day suspension won’t put him out of business permanently.

The triple crown will only affect him financially, not as an athlete who has only a short window of opportunity to succeed which was the angle that his attorneys were putting forth (since they knew that using financial effect as “irreparable harm” was not going to fly.) That angle was unsuccessful as well, since as the judge noted, the horses are the athletes, not Bob, and the horses can still run.

[MHM]

I’m no expert, but I’ll bet there are plenty of trainers who are still in business despite never having a horse in a Triple Crown race.

[BrendaJane]

but once you had the champagne lifestyle, it is hard to go back to Miller Highlife

[skydy]

It’s 90 days. He’s going to live.

Unless he has no savings whatsoever. Then, he can ask Amr Zedan for a little loan.

[Event_Horse]

Interesting crack-down across the pond…

At The Races (AtTheRaces)

[skydy]

@Event_Horse

Interesting crack-down across the pond…

https://twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/1506281553449607172

Flipping hell. I’m glad that I’m old and perhaps will die before all of these arses in the U.S. U.K. and E.U. respectively, destroy the sport of TB racing and thus the TB breed.

The U.A.E. Saudi Arabia, Russia and some South American countries, as well as other autocracies, have repeatedly given no one any reason to expect that they would ever care about horse welfare in racing or in FEI competition. See the FEI Tribunal.

It bothers me that race horse owners and trainers go for the huge purses in the UAE and now those that the Saudi races are offering. I understand that in the countries where the public has no say, the people that own the racehorses make the rules, own the tracks and pay the veterinarians that do the testing and we legitimize them with our greed. No one would be flying horses to the UAE or to Saudi Arabia if not for the huge purses offered.

I held out hope that the tradition of horse racing was now, at this point in time, in effect, a cause to return to some sort of agreement to be sportsmanlike, at least in the U.S. U.K. E.U. Australia N.Z. etc… More fool me. It seems as if the Western world with its long history of horse sport is no better an advocate for the horse than are the UAE endurance racing ruling class. Everyone is complicit. It’s so disappointing.

[findeight]

IIRC, often the shipping costs are picked up by the track management too, its good to be King.

[Mara]

We know they test for international races with huge purses, like the Saudi Cup and the Dubai World Cup Festival cards.
We don’t know how stringent the testing is during the rest of the respective racing seasons, or at least I have never seen a write up on it. I think the fields are mostly, if not completely, owned by various members of the rulers’ families, all trying to beat each other. “Fair means or foul” would not surprise me.

[skydy]

Was a decision ever made about Maximum Security’s win in the Saudi Cup?
They withheld his 10 Million in winnings.

[skydy]

CHRB Elaborates on Specifics of Baffert Suspension

[skydy]

It seems as if there could be a way to leave the horses in the stalls Baffert has, but it would take an enormous effort and the coordination of many people.

Hopefully he has considered the possibility that he may lose in Kentucky and has some options available to take care of these horses and keep them racing. How he handles this, will, in my opinion, make a difference in how many owners come back to him after his suspension is served.

[MHM]

I would imagine it’s probably a tricky balancing act for Baffert between projecting confidence in a successful legal outcome while also having a contingency plan in place in case it goes the other way.

Especially as the days keep flying by on the calendar.

[skydy]

I’m sure it is, but I hope he’s not completely unprepared. There is no reason that he couldn’t have a plan in place without the owners knowledge, to be presented to them when needed.

At least it would show that he had been considering their and their horses needs, and would be a starting point to discuss options and the owners wishes for their horses.