Here at Tuesday’s Horse we agreed that we would move on from the Baffert story for awhile. Well, that was until we saw the June 3rd Deadspin article entitled, “Bob Baffert’s attorney gets eviscerated on CNN.” It was too good to pass up, and nobody does it like Deadspin.
After Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed his first drug test, his trainer, Bob Baffert, did the media rounds to blame cancel culture and everybody besides himself for his horse’s unusually high levels of betamethasone.
Medina Spirit’s second failed drug test for the banned substance was confirmed on Wednesday. In response, Churchill Downs suspended Baffert from the track for two years.
Now, team Baffert is in damage control… again. They’re trying to salvage any ounce of credibility they still have (spoiler alert: they had none to begin with).
But instead of Baffert taking another TV tour, his attorney Craig Robertson III will handle this new round of questions. Today, Robertson appeared on CNN to defend his client. It didn’t go well, to put it nicely.
“This has been a difficult time for Mr. Baffert,” Robertson pleaded with hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar. “He has worked hard all of his life and achieved the pinnacle of the sport. I mean, basically Bob Baffert is the Michael Jordan of Horse Racing. To now have his life’s work questioned the way that it has been very difficult.”
The Michael Jordan of what? Also…. now he’s having his life work questioned?
Over the course of his career, his horses have failed 31 drug tests. Suddenly everyone is out to get him?
They continue:
“With all due respect, you say he’s like the Michael Jordan of the sport,” Keilar told Robertson. “But when you look at his history, it’s more like he’s the Jose Canseco* of the sport.”
Robertson did not argue the fact that Medina Spirit tested positive for more than double the amount of betamethasone allowed to race. But, apparently, the rule itself is the problem here.
“Just because that’s a rule, does not mean that it’s a proper rule,” Robertson exclaimed, leaving Berman visibly puzzled.
“Was Bob Baffert aware of the rules?” The CNN host pressed.
“Yes, Mr. Baffert is aware of the rules.” Robertson responded.
“So he broke the rules.”
PAUSE
“Craig Robertson, lawyer for multiple-time suspended Bob Baffert,” Berman said concluding the interview, “we thank you for joining us.”
BULL’S EYE!
*Jose Canseco is the steroid stained slugger of Major League Baseball. His wrote a book entitled “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big”.
If you enjoyed what’s above, you will enjoy what’s below. Thanks for stopping by.
• Bob Baffert cries wolf again, Deadspin, 5/9/21
• Bob Baffert inexplicably blames ‘cancel culture’ for horse-doping controversy, Deadspin, 5/10/21
• Ryan Lochte** is on a redemption tour no one asked for, and Bob Baffert will assuredly be next, Deadspin, 5/18/21
• Top Five Idiots of May, Deadspin, 5/31/21 (yes, Baffy took 1st prize)
**Ryan Lochte, the second most decorated male Olympic swimmer of all time, was banned 14 months for receiving an intravenous infusion without a therapeutic use exemption, a violation which he unwittingly self-reported on social media according to the US Anti-Doping Agency.
Featured Image: Bob Baffert, Getty Images
Tuesday's Horse 
You know, I wonder how long Baffert et al are going to drag this out. Baffert and his cabal are looking for a loophole that does not exist. From what I have read, they are trying to weasel out of it by claiming the “rule” for betamethasone was put in place to stop horses from racing if the drug had been injected in the animal’s system, rather than as a topical.
The problem is, as a trainer, Baffert signed up to abide by the rules of the game – all of them. Rules are rules – yes, even for you Baffy. If, for any reason, Medina Spirit is not disqualified, Baffert, the so-called face of today’s Kentucky Derby, will have tarnished America’s most beloved horse race forever.
Nice going (fill in the blank) – I cannot post the words I would like to describe this scumbag.
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He can drag this out as long as he wants because that is what horse racing allows him to do. He rules racing in California and there’s nobody to stop him. The problem is he thinks when he leaves California he should still get his way on everything, and his word to always be the last word.
There is no central governing body but that is on the way. They have until 2022 to get it up and running. Then we will see what happens. I wonder how many split samples from Baffy’s horses will be taken in the meantime.
Who cares about the triple crown races anymore? Even the Kentucky Derby, beloved around the world, is now a dirty, tainted thing. This is The Baffert Effect.
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Yes, it has come to that as far as the Triple Crown races.
The irony is the fact that the King of the Kentucky Derby, as so many of his blindly adoring fans have labelled him, has been implicated in the very race he has dominated over the last few years. His drug addiction has come back to bite him in the butt – at long last – and it couldn’t be more fitting of a race than the Derby.
With horse racing under the microscope these days, imagine him thinking he could simply walk away as he has done in the past. His hubris shows no bounds. Kudos to Churchill Downs for the 2-year ban.
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In total agreement. No matter who you are and how long it seems you get away with it, everyone is eventually exposed. His “wins” so called, will probably end up with an asterisk, noting his wins were achieved in the doping age. That will be Baffy’s ultimate legacy.
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