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Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Baffert's Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show
Source: Washington Post
Officials worked secretly to clear Bob Baffert’s Justify amid 2018 Triple Crown run, records show
By Gus Garcia-Roberts
June 29, 2021 at 5:04 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES — In 2018, as star trainer Bob Baffert led his thoroughbred Justify to the Triple Crown, California regulators embarked on a secret effort to exonerate Baffert after the horse’s positive test for a banned substance, according to confidential records obtained by The Washington Post that fully detail the saga for the first time.
The legal records, which draw from dozens of emails, memorandums and other materials that have not previously been made public, show how officials delayed action, contradicted their own plans and rewrote existing rules to Baffert’s advantage. At one point, the regulators’ effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack.
Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this year’s Kentucky Derby. As the trainer battles to protect his legacy, the records offer a new window into how those charged with running horse racing’s disjointed regulatory system have appeared to treat the powerful trainer with deference.
Justify tested positive for scopolamine, an anti-nausea medication said to have potential performance-enhancing effects in horses, after winning the Santa Anita Derby in April 2018. Without that win, Justify would not have qualified to run in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, a month later. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019.
The California Horse Racing Board’s inner workings during the episode have remained mostly shrouded by official secrecy. After the test result was revealed, Mick Ruis, the trainer and owner of the Santa Anita Derby’s runner-up, sued the CHRB, claiming Justify’s win should have been erased.
-snip-
By Gus Garcia-Roberts
June 29, 2021 at 5:04 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES — In 2018, as star trainer Bob Baffert led his thoroughbred Justify to the Triple Crown, California regulators embarked on a secret effort to exonerate Baffert after the horse’s positive test for a banned substance, according to confidential records obtained by The Washington Post that fully detail the saga for the first time.
The legal records, which draw from dozens of emails, memorandums and other materials that have not previously been made public, show how officials delayed action, contradicted their own plans and rewrote existing rules to Baffert’s advantage. At one point, the regulators’ effort included searching for exonerating evidence in a literal haystack.
Baffert faces unprecedented scrutiny after a positive drug test marred a win by his horse Medina Spirit at this year’s Kentucky Derby. As the trainer battles to protect his legacy, the records offer a new window into how those charged with running horse racing’s disjointed regulatory system have appeared to treat the powerful trainer with deference.
Justify tested positive for scopolamine, an anti-nausea medication said to have potential performance-enhancing effects in horses, after winning the Santa Anita Derby in April 2018. Without that win, Justify would not have qualified to run in the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, a month later. But the scuttled test result remained secret until the New York Times reported it in 2019.
The California Horse Racing Board’s inner workings during the episode have remained mostly shrouded by official secrecy. After the test result was revealed, Mick Ruis, the trainer and owner of the Santa Anita Derby’s runner-up, sued the CHRB, claiming Justify’s win should have been erased.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/06/29/bob-baffert-justify-triple-crown-failed-drug-test-california/
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