The corporation that owns horse racing’s crown jewel, the Kentucky Derby, declared on Monday that its two-year ban on coach Bob Baffert is remaining extended by means of the finish of 2024.
Baffert’s preliminary prohibition from participating in races at tracks run by Churchill Downs Integrated was established to end this thirty day period, pending review.
But the organization reported Baffert has ongoing to show disregard for procedures, laws, protection, integrity, and fairness of horse racing at its services by advertising what it characterizes as lies regarding a unsuccessful drug check for one of his horses.
“Mr. Baffert proceeds to peddle a bogus narrative concerning the failed drug check of Medina Spirit,” it mentioned in a assertion.
Medina Spirit was stripped of the Kentucky Derby victory nine months soon after the 2021 gain. The Kentucky Horse Racing Fee verified that a laboratory located the horse experienced analyzed good for betamethasone following the race.
The episode encouraged the Churchill Downs prohibition.
Baffert has denied drugging the horse on goal, and on Monday he issued a statement reiterating his assertion that a topical procedure administered to Medina Spirit may possibly have led to the positive.
He said racing officers are nevertheless adjudicating the situation of no matter whether the topical material — he determined it as Otomax — is allowed. His possess lawyers, Baffert reported, certain him it was inside regulations.
“I have been open up, trustworthy, and forthcoming about these gatherings,” Baffert mentioned. “In no way does this entail a ‘disregard for the principles.'”
Previous yr he sued Churchill Downs in federal court more than the suspension.
Betamethasone is a legal, pain-relieving steroid frequently applied to deal with horses, but Kentucky and other states prohibit it in any total on race days.
Veterinarians say its overuse could mask severe bone and joint injuries and lead to a lethal breakdown.
In 2018, The New York Times documented that yet another Baffert horse, Justify, which had aided the trainer obtain his historic Triple Crown sweep in 2018, allegedly analyzed beneficial for a banned drug and should really have been disqualified from the Derby.
The Moments documented that California regulators with oversight of the drug exam took a month to confirm it, then concluded the horse accidentally ingested the banned compound, scopolamine, from taking in jimson weed current at Santa Anita.
Baffert’s legal professional at the time claimed the report on Justify’s drug examination was “short on specifics” and sensationalist.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the team Animal Wellness Motion, claimed medication like betamethasone have contributed to superior-profile horse deaths at race tracks from coastline to coastline.
“Churchill Downs Inc., which has been below fire for the 12 racehorse fatalities leading up the Kentucky Derby, built the suitable get in touch with to scratch Baffert through the conclusion of 2024,” Pacelle mentioned in a assertion Monday. “His extended file of breaking the rules speaks for alone.”
Baffert’s Churchill Downs ban was originally established for two many years by means of the spring season that ends this thirty day period.
The company, which also owns or co-owns Arlington Park Race Track, Ellis Park, Turfway Park, and many others, stated it will reevaluate Baffert’s suspension in 2025.
Baffert, primarily based in Los Angeles, has also confronted temporary suspensions from the New York Racing Affiliation, the state of Maryland, and Santa Anita, his house monitor.
Baffert, a Hall of Fame coach, is a single of only two who have won all 3 Triple Crown races in a solitary calendar year. He has also gained 17 of the 3 races that guide to a Triple Crown.
