Baffert may lose top horses if his 2-year ban is upheld
Normally, these are the days when trainer Bob Baffert is sorting out all his top 2-year-olds for a possible run at the Kentucky Derby.
Baffert’s won a record seven Derbies, pending the legal battles being waged over Medina Spirit’s drug-tainted victory in this year’s Derby on May 1.
There’s a cloud hanging over the 68-year-old Baffert’s head these days, and he’s trying his best to separate what happens on the race track and what transpires in the court rooms.
It’s not easy, but he’s making the best of it.
Baffert trains Corniche, a $1.5 million purchase who won last weekend’s Grade I American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita to run his record to 2-0 and stamp himself as one of the early favorites for the 2022 Run for the Roses.
But again, there’s that cloud. If Churchill Downs’ two-year ban sticks and Baffert is not allowed to enter horses in the Derby, Corniche’s owners, Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner, will have no choice but to switch barns if they want to win America’s most famous horse race.
Same goes for other Baffert 2-year-olds who surface between now and next May. Owners will have decisions to make.
“I just focus on these horses day in and day out,” Baffert said. “I’ve got a lot of responsibilities. I’ve gotta worry about horses. I have a lot of employees that count on me. It’s a lot of pressure. Training horses is not easy. Keeps my mind off (legal stuff). I just focus on these horses and make sure they show up on the right day.”
It was vindication of sorts last Saturday when Medina Spirit won the Grade I Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita.
“I’m just happy for (owner) Amr Zedan and what we’ve all had to deal with,” Baffert said in the winner’s circle. “Our focus is on the horses. We stay focused on that, and the other stuff will just play itself out.”
Medina Spirit tested positive for the anti-inflammatory steroid betamethasone after his Derby victory, prompting Churchill Downs officials to issue the two-year ban on Baffert.
Retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye says he believes the sport needs to clean up its act, but that major reforms are needed in the area of drugs.
“The way things are right now, with bad tests and so forth, that needs to be cleaned up,” Delahoussaye told Santa Anita publicity. “They should reconsider the use of therapeutic medication being measured in picograms and nanograms which are so small it’s almost out of a horse’s system. Either we do with it or we do without it.
“If you do without it completely, we won’t have racing because, let’s face it, football players, baseball players, they all use therapeutic medicine. As long as it’s not a stimulant to enchance performance and it’s just to help them do what comes naturally, it should be used.
“Get rid of the clenbuterol that enhances their performance. Lasix is a diuretic and is not an enhancer, yet they want to do away with that. There are a lot of smart people out there and a lot of science. They can put their heads together and do it right.”
Delahoussaye, 70, was forced to miss last weekend’s Eddie D. Stakes for the second consecutive year because of COVID-19 and Hurricane Ida, which ravaged much
OUT OF THE GATE
SANTA ANITA LEADERS Through Thursday
Jockeys / Wins Flavien Prat / 7 John Velazquez / 4 Juan Hernandez / 3 Joel Rosario / 3 Umberto Rispoli / 2
Trainers / Wins
Bob Baffert / 5 Richard Mandella / 3 Peter Miller / 3
Four tied / 2
WEEKEND STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $70,000 Swingtime Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-old and up, 1mile (turf)
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Trainer Bob Baffert doesn’t worry much about sending 3-year-olds against older horses this time of year, believing they have caught up to their elders. But 3-year-old Private Mission (Zenyatta Stakes winner) against Letruska, a 5-year-old monster, in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff? “When you’re facing a mare like Letruska, that’s a serious mare right there,” Baffert said. “You just don’t know. Right now we’re just focused on what’s happening now. A lot can happen between now and then. We’re just focused on keeping ‘em happy and sound.”
• Santa Anita will continue to offer its “Ship and Win” program during the winter-spring meet that opens Dec.
26. “All of us have been gratified at the success of the Ship and Win program this year, at both Del Mar and here at Santa Anita,” Chris Merz, Santa Anita’s director of racing and racing secretary, said in a statement. “We’re certainly hoping to continue to attract more out of state horses this winter and spring and, given the significant amount of money available, this has certainly incentivized our horsemen to go out and procure additional racing prospects.”
• Wagering on U.S. horse racing is up 13.8% through the first three quarters of 2021compared to 2020, according to figures released by Equibase this week. A strong fourth quarter could boost the total bet on U.S. racing to more than $12billion, which would be the most bet during a year since $11.4billion was wagered in 2010. The record for highest amount wagered in a year was 2003 when $15.18 billion was wagered. Yearto-date handle figures comparing 2021 to pre-COVID 2019 show a 10.23% increase.
of Louisiana.
“We got lucky,” said Delahoussaye, who lives in Lafayette, La. “People on both sides of us got hit the worst. We were right in the middle and had winds and rains, but nothing serious. Baton Rouge and most of the coastlines really got blasted.”
Eddie D, one of the most popular jockeys to ever ride at Santa Anita, is still involved in the bloodstock business and is a new member of the
Louisiana Racing Commission.
“A partner and I have a mare and (wife) Juanita and I have another mare with some babies coming in,” Delahoussaye said. “One’s in training right now and another we’re putting in a 2-year-old in training sale. I’ve been on the racing commission for about a year, so it all keeps me busy.”