Derby Aftermath
 

Lots of rumors about a possible positive test post Derby. Three guesses as to who the trainer is and the first two don’t count.

I did find this tweet from Tim Sullivan of the Courier Journal this morning fascinating

https://mobile.twitter.com/TimSulliv...53271525203970

As Tim says...should be an interesting morning.

This is gaining steam.

If Medina tested positive let's hope Kentucky is finally the jurisdiction with enough decency & balls to nail him to the wall

(too bad all the tickets have been cashed already)

Imagine if it was Gamine again?

I wonder if two weeks will suddenly not be too short of a rest for Mandaloun
:D

Just heard that Baffert will have a press conference around 930am Eastern time

live

its Medina Spirit

www.twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1gqGvoVXeVWJB

Will be interesting to see if what's best for him suddenly changes.

Why is it so hard for Baffert to play by the rules?

The audacity of this guy to suggest he doesn’t know what is going on is so embarrassing. When is enough....really enough?

I don’t care what it was...what it does or how little the overage was. There are rules. Everyone follows them and one guy continuously doesn’t.

I said this the other day and it still rings true.

When is a good time to talk about Baffert winning the Derby with a son of Protonico?

I don't think it's really hard to understand. Look at all he's gained doing it his way. He's gained financial wealth for his family for generations to come. He's gotten himself into the hall of fame. The media loves him. He's the face of the sport. Because of his TC success, owners send him top stock every year and undoubtedly will continue to do so and take their chances that their horse won't be the one to get caught. He barely gets penalized and when he does, it's nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Honestly, I think that the rest of the guys that follow the rules are idiots. When you know that the penalties will be extremely light and you think of all there is to gain, I almost want to say you're doing a disservice to yourself and your owners to not cheat. It's great to have integrity and be able to look yourself in the mirror and say "I did it the right way". But you're going to be saying it while living in your two bedroom apartment while wondering how to make ends meet and you'll be single. Meanwhile, the guy that's cheating has a $5 million mansion, the best cars, the best women, travels the world, and is the face of the sport.

You think Alex Rodriguez regrets cheating? Probably over half a billion in the bank, a great job at ESPN as an analyst, and engaged to Jennifer Lopez. Not a bad trade-off for not making the hall of fame. Which he still might one day.

You gonna end there?

That's only like half of Bill Burr's "gold digging epidemic" bit.

What about the ridiculous divorce settlements?

I guess I look at it the other way. A Rod didn’t have to cheat. He was a genetic freak who was going to be a hall of famer even if he didn’t cheat.

Baffert doesn’t have to bend the rules for lack of a better term. He’s a fantastic trainer who is blessed with having the best stock money can buy. He would’ve made enough money for generations to come regardless. He chooses to bend the rules. It’s a choice and shows a complete lack of character.

I can sympathize with the trainer who is barely making ends meet who has to bend the rules to put food on his table. This is not that.

At what point should the trainer care about the welfare of the horse? I read this post waiting for that consideration to be brought up...and nothing.

:tro::tro::tro:

Sad thing is - if he is disqualified, Brad Cox wins.

We now have a chance to straighten this sport out.

If you want to straighten out this sport a class action lawsuit vs. Baffert , Owners and Churchill Downs seeking to return EVERY LIVE BET into Kentucky Derby. I am going To get slaughtered here for saying this I am-sure.

At this point Drugs are cost of doing business for these guys. Get caught and return purse money and pay a fine... How many times have they not been caught. with the dollars in the derby pool make this hurt and send a message.

The reason Include the track and owners is I feel both know or suspect but turn a blind eye. Penalize owners and you can be certain owners will not want to take chances in the future.

Trust me I’ve thought about it. It’s not like he’s any better. He just hasn’t been caught as much.

When the Derby super is Baffert, Cox, O’Neill and Cox....there’s a problem.

The problem is it’ll probably be years before a class action suit is settled.

But I’m with you on penalizing the owners. They share a lot of the blame. I’m not sure what the right course of action is...but I can safely say whatever has been done is not working.

Hoss this is about sending a message that cost of doing business won't work in future.

I don't mean this in any disrespectful way but I think that anyone that believes that everyone does things in the best interest and welfare of the horse is living in a world that isn't real. I'm not saying that they don't care and that they are trying to hurt the horses but I just don't think they care as much as people think. Surprisingly, lol, I don't know much about the drugs and their actual impact on the horses. Was Medina Spirit's physical well being compromised in the short or long term by the medication? Brad Cox said he's doing what's in the best interest of the horse by not running Mandoloun in the Preakness. With the possibility of a DQ of the winner, Mandaloun moves up. Being a Derby winner and having a shot at the TC, does that mean that he reverses course and now runs? Is that now in the best interests of the horse.....or the human connections?

I actually do sympatize with the guys that are trying to do it the right way and are beaten by the guys that cheat. But again, the bigger responsibility for fixing this is on the sport, not the trainers. If it's not Baffert, it's going to be someone else looking to take every advantage to fill the void he leaves. Like Jim Rome says, "if you're not cheating, you're not trying and it's only cheating if you get caught."

I would rather keep my integrity and not have as much money, cars and etc. and say I did it the right way instead of cheating my way to the top.

:tro::tro:

Based upon my calculations of the kinetics horse had to be given this approximately 3 days prior to the derby for the levels detected. Rules are in place for 14 days to insure it’s completely below detection levels. The baffert team surely knows this and pushed it thinking it would be cleared. No way it’s a false positive.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Ideally, the horse’s welfare should always come first. Of course that’s not reality. But whether they have the best interest of the horse at heart or not, if trainers cannot plausibly make that argument then the sport will be dead.

I just listened to the Baffert presser.

Hearing him whine about how something isn’t right and why does this keep happening to him is gross. He’s a disgusting person.

They go Red Hat and claim https://youtu.be/z5rRZdiu1UE

Haha, is anyone even surprised?

I’ve made my feelings known about Baffert over and over again so there’s no point in doing it again....but look at his two winners yesterday at Churchill.

Both seemed to find that little extra just when they needed it. Horses trained by certain trainers have a knack for always having just a little more than their competitors.

Until other trainers and owners come forward and speak up and say they aren’t going to tolerate it, I don’t think anything will change.

Kudos to Churchill for now...but let’s see how long this lasts.

Churchill has ruled him off the grounds.

Poor Pimlico...what will they do if he wants to run Medina in the Preakness? No way they want this mess at their door. They probably don't want Concert Tour either, but now the race is looking really really weak.
I hope some others will now decide to run.

Per the DRF article:

The Kentucky Oaks positive was detected in Gamine, an eventual champion, after the filly’s third-place finish in the race. Gamine, who also tested positive for betamethasone, was disqualified, and Baffert was fined $1,500. Baffert and his attorney had argued that the horse was administered the corticosteroid 18 days prior to the race, outside the 14-day withdrawal guideline. Baffert did not appeal the ruling.


His plea that he doesn't understand how this could happen? Really ?

Whereas there was admitted administration of betamethasone in the Gamine case, the contention in this one is that Medina Spirit was not knowingly given the medication.

Why wouldn’t Medina Spirit run in the Preakness?

Baffert is either the unluckiest guy in racing or a lying cheat who thinks he can do what he wants and all he’ll get is repeated slaps on the wrist.

No surprise

I hear ya, but I wonder if Baffert & the owners want to proceed here. Maybe it's a chance to vindicate the colt.
Not sure Pimlico wants anything to do with either of them...how do you promote this race with Medina in the field?

Be interesting to see how the horse racing media covers this. By the looks of the article on DRF they will continue the same song and dance and give Baffert (and all other suspected trainers) a relative pass.

Can't bite the hand that feeds you

Understood. But at what point is there no longer a hand?