The racetrack known as Old Hilltop has long been a safe haven for trainer Bob Baffert. Eight times he has come to Baltimore with horses so fast that he leaves with a blanket of the withered, black-eyed Susan of the Preakness Stakes winner.
The green stakes barn with white trim is a Baffert-friendly bunker. It houses all the horses competing in the second leg of the Triple Crown and is a day-to-dusk hub for the people who care for the horses. There are some familiar faces, including Mr. Baffert's mentor and friend D. Wayne Lucas, 88. Mr. Lucas wears more Stetsons than anyone this side of John Wayne.
He has a colleague he would like to know more about. For example, burly Kentuckian Ken McPeek brought his Kentucky Derby-winning stallion Mystic Dan to Pimlico this week in search of another Saturday win.
Pimlico was twice the temporary home of the Triple Crown champions coached by Baffert. In 2015, American Pharoah became the first horse in 37 years to dominate the series based on this horse. Justify did something similar in 2018.
Baffert said the Preakness is without a doubt his favorite Triple Crown race. We are all in the same barn. It's very relaxing and fun. ”
In recent years, it has been difficult for Baffert to find fun times and an easy-going atmosphere on the Triple Crown road. Churchill Downs has banned Medina Spirit, the stallion who finished first in the 2021 Derby, from running in the Derby for the third year in a row after he failed a post-race drug test. He returned to Triple Crown racing last year at Pimlico after being suspended by Kentucky regulators in 2022.
It's unclear whether Baffert, 71, will be welcomed back to Derby next year or again. Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs, which organizes the Derby, said Baffert has extended his two-year suspension to 2024 because he “has not accepted responsibility for what happened.” Ta.
Baffert will be reevaluated by Churchill in 2025, but has yet to show any remorse.
Last year he tragically returned to Pimlico. His stallion National Treasure won the Preakness, but earlier in the day another owned horse, Havna Meltdown, was injured at the racetrack and had to be euthanized.
But through good times and bad, Baffert has been surrounded by many expensive horses purchased by prominent horse owners.
Baffert's Preakness horse, Imagination, was purchased for $1.05 million at a yearling sale by a group that includes a company controlled by executives of billionaire investor George Soros. Barbara Bank, owner of Jackson Family Wines. and hedge fund executive Sol Kumin. Members of the group, who call themselves the “Avengers” after the comic book superheroes, along with a rotating cast of wealthy horse buyers, have spent tens of millions of dollars selling horses.
They and other owners who are willing to spend their money say Baffert is a six-time Derby winner, four-time named champion trainer, and ranks high on the sports career earnings list with a purse of more than $355 million. He helped them reach 3rd place.
“The $2 million and $3 million horses he buys every year makes him pretty capable,” Lucas said. “He buys real, really strong horses. And he knows what to do with them.”
That's high praise from Mr Lucas, who was a master at persuading economically advantaged people to empty their pockets to compete with chiefs and Irish sports betting promoters for the finest horsemeat at public auction. . From 1980 until his 2000s, he was a stablekeeper, Gordon, and his gecko, managing hundreds of horses across multiple states. Result: 13 wins in Triple Crown races.
Even though Baffert became a polarizing figure in Thoroughbred racing, the Avengers and other owners remained loyal to Baffert. In addition to the Derby suspension, horses he trained have failed 30 drug tests over 40 years, regulators said. At least 77 horses have died under his care since 2000, according to data from the California Horse Racing Commission, most notably at a California race track seven months after the Derby. Medina Spirit, who later died.
The stallion was owned by Saudi businessman Amr Zedan. Mr. Zedan also paid $2 million for Moose, another stallion trained by Mr. Baffert, hoping to win his first Triple Crown at Saturday's Preakness. However, Moose developed a sudden fever on Wednesday after a trip to Baltimore and was ruled out of the race.
A few weeks before the Derby, Zedan asked Churchill Downs for a temporary restraining order to allow Moose and other horses trained by Baffert to run in the Derby. A Kentucky Circuit Court judge ruled against him.
A representative for Mr. Zedan said he was not interested in discussing his loyalty to Mr. Baffert. Soros Fund Racing and Bank's Tom Ryan also declined to comment on the trainer.
But Ken Ramsey, another prominent horse owner in the sport, will be vocal about why expensive and talented horses continue to flow through the Baffert stables in Southern California.
“If you want to take a horse to the Kentucky Derby, he's the guy,” said Mr. Ramsey, who is based in Kentucky and does not employ Mr. Baffert. “He knows what he's doing.”
Many in the horse racing community believe that the impasse between Baffert and Churchill Downs has been resolved and that the safety and anti-doping efforts of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Administration, the federal agency that currently regulates horse racing, have been resolved. I hope that it will attract attention.
Last year, seven horses died under the Twin Spiers at Churchill Downs during the week of the marquee event, two of them in the hours leading up to the Derby. Days later, five more people were fatally injured, prompting Churchill officials to move the race to another racetrack in Kentucky.
After Havna Meltdown's death, Maryland officials released a 70-page autopsy report detailing the stallion's pre-existing injuries, including lesions on each bulbar. These lesions occur when the cartilage wears down due to repetitive injury. The New York Times had two veterinarians independently review the records. Both men claimed the stallion was not receiving proper care and should not have raced that day.
By contrast, this year's Derby resulted in no casualties and drew the largest television audience since 1989, after enhanced safety measures were put in place by the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority and Churchill Downs. NBC broadcasts averaged 16.7 million viewers, an increase in 2013. Last year he was up % from 14.8 million.
“Bob brought some credibility to our business, and I think he destroyed some credibility,” said Terry Finley, principal owner of West Point Thoroughbreds. “I truly believe that Bob and the owners want what’s best for the business, but what they think is best for the business doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with what I’m doing. there is no.
“The bottom line is we've been through this enough,” Finley continued. “We need to go into the room and de-quote, and there needs to be an exit ramp for everyone involved.”
For three years, Baffert argued in court and before the state horse racing commission that Medina Spirit should not be stripped of its 2021 Derby victory and that he should not be punished. The stallion was disqualified after testing positive for betamethasone, a powerful corticosteroid used to reduce pain and inflammation. Baffert said it was due to the skin cream.
In January, Baffert announced in a post on X that he was dropping all legal challenges in order to “actively focus on the present and future of what our great sport has to offer.”
Mr. Carstanjen, the CEO of Churchill Downs, doesn't seem keen on forgiving or forgetting.
“If a fighter who failed a Derby drug test says he would do the same thing, he has misunderstood the rules and would not have done it differently if he had another chance,” trainer Carstanjen said. problem. “