Run for the Roses - Kentucky Derby Day!

[T&C]

Baffert's appeal denied.

 

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/02/25/bob-baffert-s-stay-of-suspension-denied-by-khrc

[RaoulDuke79]

On 2/21/2022 at 11:12 PM, Marv's Neighbor said:

$7500 fine??? Seriously?

I think that's less than the mint julip at the derby 

[Augie]

4 hours ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

I think that's less than the mint julip at the derby 

 

….throw in the wifey’s hat, and it looks like a bargain. 

[T&C]

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/03/01/bob-baffert-sues-churchill-downs

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

34 minutes ago, T&C said:

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/03/01/bob-baffert-sues-churchill-downs

[SoTier]

Most Thoroughbred trainers who get caught in doping scandals tend to be trainers with cheap horses that struggle to bring back checks in the lowest claiming ranks of whatever track/tracks they race.  These horses tend to be older and slower and often have chronic injuries.   A lot of these trainers are struggling to keep themselves afloat financially and so try to use various drugs to improve their horses' performances.

 

Bob Baffert doesn't have to drug horses in order to stay in business.  He gets more than his share of the very best Thoroughbred race horses in the world.  He simply believes that the end justifies the means.  His record of doping incidents, especially with his very best runners in big races, is significantly higher than other premier American Thoroughbred trainers like Steve Asmussen, Todd Pletcher, and Chad Brown, all of whom have large strings of horses running all around the country under the supervision of  assistant trainers just like Baffert.   Baffert needs to stop making excuses and blaming everybody else but the man in charge, ie Bob Baffert. As Harry Truman said, "the buck stops here". 

[T&C]

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/07/10/bob-baffert-wins-big-in-return-from-long-suspension

[SoTier]

Contrary to the headline, these days $125k is a pretty paltry purse for a stakes races.  On the same day as the Los Alamitos Derby, there were at least 7 stakes races run around the country worth at least $250k, topped by the $1 million Belmont Derby and the $700k Belmont Oaks Invitational (which are both run in New York where Baffert can't run his horses).   On Sunday, Belmont ran 3 non-stakes races with purses over $90k each.  Churchill Downs, which finished its meeting a week ago or so, has a purse structure similar to the big NY tracks Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga.