“Now Even Medina Spirit Is A Junkie.” – President Donald J. Trump.
From the Desk of President Trump:
“So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky. This is emblematic of what is happening to our Country. The whole world is laughing at us as we go to hell on our Borders, our fake Presidential Election, and everywhere else!” UnQuote.
The article below is the one I published shortly after Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby. And then I hear through the news that Bob Baffert had been suspended by Churchill Downs, and on Sunday On Sunday, Baffert says that Medina Spirit had tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone. For clarification that’s an anti-inflammatory drug that “otherwise is legal but results in a positive when found in the blood on race day.” He said.
He also says he thinks that’s harsh punishment without a split result. “We live in a different world now,” Baffert said while appearing on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom With Bell Hemmer & Dana Perino.” “This America is different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing.”
Uh huh, sure, Bob. Let’s forget about all that for a minute, Bob, and let’s back the truck up to the part where you said it was in the horses blood when it should not have been in the horses blood on race day because that would tend to make a horse that you claimed couldn’t run with that field run away from them from post to post. Would it not? Yep. Isn’t that the same thing as what got Lance Armstrong in so much trouble? Yep. That was it.
A Pharmacist told me this before I knew it was an anti-inflammatory Medina Spirit had tested positive for. Not a Veterinarian, a Pharmacologist who owns horses, and has for a very long time. I’m going to have to lean toward strong disbelief on this one, Bob.
The fact that the drug was in his blood is the entire issue. What effect that level of it would have is a matter for the Veterinary Board to assess and as a livestock Judge of many years I feel they should do just that and make it public. There’s no cancel culture here. I bet on Medina Spirit and I love the Derby and the horses, I love horse racing, and I love everything about Churchill Downs more than eating. I love the thrill of hoping for a Triple Crown winner every year when they run for the roses. More than anything else I believed in you as a trainer. To me it’s a dishonor to oneself to cheat at anything but to dope a horse is really low.
How do you explain this, Bob? https://www.espn.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/29468696/trainer-bob-baffert-suspended-15-days-horses-test-positive
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert has been suspended for 15 days by the Arkansas Racing Commission after two of his horses tested positive for a banned substance.
The stewards said in a ruling announced Wednesday that the suspension will run Aug. 1-15. The Oaklawn Park stewards found Baffert violated Rule 1233, which states that a trainer shall ultimately be responsible for the condition of any horse that is entered regardless of the acts of any third parties.
His horses Charlatan and Gamine each tested positive for lidocaine in two rounds of testing after winning races at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, track on May 2.
The commission disqualified both horses and stripped them of their purse earnings. Charlatan’s owners lost $300,000 in purse money; Gamine’s owners forfeited $36,000.
According to the Kentucky Equine Research, it’s a man-made steroid that resembles cortisol – a natural hormone produced by the adrenal gland. Officials said corticosteroid drugs are administered into the joints which can give horses relief from discomfort or inflammation.
Failure to comply with the rules and medication protocols jeopardizes the safety of the horses and jockeys, the integrity of our sport and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby and all who participate,” the track said in a statement. “Churchill Downs will not tolerate it.” This is not the first time Baffert has been suspended due to failed drug tests. In the past year alone, the seven-time Derby winner has had to answer for five failed tests.
That story’s getting harder and harder to swallow every time I hear it, Bob. I heard about the incident in Arkansas right before I went to place a bet on Medina Spirit. I guess it’s kismet that I was given the wrong race because I lost anyway. A positive test from incidental contact rising to twice the legal level allowable at Churchill Downs is not even slightly believable. If this is to be believed, and it’s honestly not from my perspective, then it’s an ongoing pattern of behavior you’re aware of and still it continues to plague your horses. Why you is a great question, Bob.
Why do your horses keep getting disqualified for “incidental doping”? And now this just came in three hours ago from Yahoo News and NBC Sports: https://sports.yahoo.com/medina-spirit-heads-preakness-minus-191910519.html
Medina Spirit heads to Preakness, minus trainer Bob Baffert
I am not even going to apologize because I have to call bullshit on that. Is that how cheating becomes a viable option? You run a doped horse, you win of course, and then you tie the ultimate decision up in court until the cows come home. Nice legal ploy but it’s still horseshit no matter how you slice it. If a horse is that high then the trainer should bear the burden of proof to show why and should rightfully be suspended until they do so to the satisfaction of the State. It’s unthinkable that the racing boards in every state Bob chooses to run in now is going to be facing this same situation, and Bob has no idea why. I have a pretty good idea why and as much as it pains me to say it because I truly believed in you, Bob. When does someone with the reins of common sense still in their grip step up and say, whoa. That’s a bunch of bullshit! When? Next time, or will it be the time after that? After a horse dies? When?
You keep blaming it on another man who wears pain patches being in contact with the horses. Let’s look at that logically. If an employee is in a lot of pain that’s cause enough for concern to any employer. It certainly should be, shouldn’t it? I think so. But if this man gets 5 horses disqualified, one of those being the winner of the Kentucky Derby of all things, doesn’t that problem point itself out? Yep. To me it also spells complicity, Bob.
The last time something like this happened it took years to resolve. That’s an unacceptable loophole that Bob seems to enjoy exploiting. And low and behold he has a lawyer who thinks he can pull wool over everyone’s eyes. If this practice was fair and just then why isn’t everybody doing it? My best guess would be integrity probably got the better of them. But that’s just my learned guess. You can make up your own minds. The original sample is now going to be re-tested. If the violation is upheld, Medina Spirit could be disqualified, and the runner-up, Mandaloun would then be the winner. In the meantime Bob’s horses continue to run unchallenged?
In my professional opinion this stinks worse than last weeks bait left out in the sun.
Greetings sports fans and welcome back to yet another thrilling adventure called Vegas Valley Sports Beat. That tasty little meatball of a column that goes great with Fava beans, and a nice Chianti. It’s a beautiful Sunday evening here in the Las Vegas Valley region leave thermometer on the barn wall says it’s 62 degrees at 7:30 p.m. much hotter days are coming soon so enjoy the cool weather while you can.
Yesterday was the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby and yours truly had a bet on a horse to win for the first time ever. I woke up yesterday morning and turned on my work computer to find an article on the news wire to the effect that renowned horse trainer, Bob Baffert was saying that his horse, number 8 Medina Spirit wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the favorites in the race. I knew right away that Bob Baffert was probably full of baloney as did the author of the article. So, determined WAS I to put some money on Medina Spirit to win. I got up and went straight away by means of various detours to the William Hill sports book at the Pahrump Nugget and I got there just in the nick of time to put $20 on #8 Medina Spirit to win.
I wandered around the casino playing keno and what not so I didn’t actually see the race but many people throughout the day agreed with my assessment including the writer of that article previously mentioned that Bob Baffert was probably full of baloney. Nobody believed it. Well, nobody but the fool that reportedly wagered $2.5 million dollars of the favorite to win. When I got to the Sportsbook to see who won the bookie was talking about it with two customers and I asked who won sure enough Bob Baffert’s horse had just won the Kentucky Derby again. I was like WOOHOO! So I handed the bookie my ticket and he ran it through machine and informed me they had give me the 10th race not the 8th. I specifically stated I wanted to bet on number eight to win the Kentucky Derby and the woman gave me the wrong race. I learned a very hard lesson that she has to be watched because she apparently doesn’t understand English, or doesn’t know how to do her job. Whatever it was it was my fault for not checking the ticket before I picked it up. There was nothing I could do about it and the number eight horse whoever it was, did not win the 10th race. Number 8 won the eighth race though. To say I was incredulous and pissed is an extreme understatement but what could I do? Nothing.
It’s nice to know that I picked the winning horse my first time ever betting on the Kentucky Derby, but it was a painful lesson in personal responsibility at the hands Sportsbook for me. I didn’t think to check it because I didn’t think I had to check it. I thought I made myself perfectly clear, but obviously I did not. I hope William Hill is very proud of himself he got me for a hot smoking twenty bucks and saved himself from having to pay me over $300 for the win. That’s a pretty janky business practice if you ask me. I wonder how many other people they got that way. If you screw up it’s your fault if they screw up it’s your fault too. No wonder the house never loses.
Again the operating catchphrase here is caveat emptor, or, let the buyer beware. Before you put your hand on a sports bet ticket look at it carefully and make sure it is exactly what you ordered or you too could get pencil whipped this way. I’m just glad I didn’t go balls out and bet a thousand dollars on Bob’s horse to win. I don’t mind losing and honest bet I’ve lost that much on the Super Bowl when the Broncos threw it away, and blatantly I might add, to the Seattle Seahawks. But to be cheated out of it like that by an incompetent, or unscrupulous licensed bookie is really foul in my book. That’s all I have to say about it.
Congratulations are in order for Robert Baffert on his historic 7th record -breaking Kentucky Derby win. It’s astounding but I think I know how he gets his horses to win. That is not by any means to imply cheating of any kind. Long before I ever heard of Bob Baffert, I wrote to my Nephew Luke that if I ever had the money I’d buy a decent Thoroughbred and train it to go the distance at Belmont. I said I would also train my horse to love winning races. To live for post time and the roar of the crowd as the gates drop and the track announcer cries, aaand, they’re off! I said I’d teach my horse to never let another horse get ahead of him, to get up front and stay up front to the wire. Once I felt he was ready, I’d call him Bob’s Your Uncle, and I’d win the Triple Crown with him.
It almost has to be or certainly should be a law that says if you win the Kentucky Derby you have to make a run at the Triple Crown. Otherwise what’s the point of running in the Derby? I personally have all faith in Bob’s ability to produce a third Triple Crown winner, and I think Medina Spirit has as good a chance as anyone else does and he deserves a shot at the title.. Let him run Bob. Please?
Here’s Bob’s take on Medina Spirit making a run at the Triple Crown, and recap of the derby from the horse’s mouth so to speak.
“Can he win the Triple Crown? I don’t know. But he’s the Derby winner, and that’s all that matters,” Baffert said Sunday morning at Barn 33. “I was coming in here, thinking, I wasn’t sure (if Medina Spirit could win the Derby), everything had to go perfect for him. We were going to go to the lead, and see what happened. What if they challenged him? He made the lead pretty easily, for him, and the other speed horse didn’t break (Rock Your World). That’s what it’s like in the Derby: You have to get the trip; the other speed horse didn’t get the trip.
“Going down the backside, he was doing it easy, you could tell he was enjoying himself. His ears were forward. And turning for home, they came for him, and he just dug in. I didn’t know if he was going to do it. He fought hard, and ran sort of the same race that he did at Santa Anita when he won the Robert Lewis. They came to him, and he fended them all off.
“I couldn’t believe it, at the sixteenth pole he was fighting and fighting. It was just a thrill to watch him do it, and fight on.
“And he came back, he’s handling it quite well. He wasn’t as tired as I thought he might be. A big race like that, but he handled it quite well.”
“When they turned for home, I was still not convinced,” Baffert said. “We didn’t start screaming and yelling until about the sixteenth pole, when it looked like it was do-able. In that last hundred yards, we all were screaming and yelling like it was my first Derby. We were like crazy, crazy. That’s what the Derby does to you. There’s no other race like it. The seven hasn’t quite sunk in yet. And to do it with a $35,000 horse. It gives people hope, keeps their dreams alive. Actually he was the cheapest yearling, since he cost $1,000. But he’s a beautiful horse, a good-looking horse.
The obvious question following the Derby triumph is the Pimlico question: on to the Preakness?
“He came out of it well. It takes about a week to determine, so I’m going to come back next weekend and see,” Baffert said. “But I don’t see anything discouraging right now. Concert Tour worked well this morning (five furlongs in 1:00.60 at 5:50), I’ll sit down and talk to Mr. (Gary) West. He wants that horse to develop and we’re not rushing things. We know he’s a good horse, so we’ll see next week how he is. The thing is how they’re training. They both would have to be training well.”
https://www.kentuckyderby.com/horses/news/it-s-seventh-heaven-at-baffert-barn-following-medina-spirits-historic-kentucky-derby-victory
Congratulations also to the owners, Zedan Racing and to Medina Spirit for winning the Kentucky Derby. Good luck in the Preakness, and then let’s hope Medina Spirit will go on to Belmont and chase history.
B.B. Wolfe Publishing 