Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie
That's a very interesting question. The split sample came back positive. Or, will this be yet another Justify kind of situation where the findings simply get brushed under the rug?
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It's hard to know what KHRC is thinking. One possibility is that they are spooked by Baffert's lawyers and their litigiousness. But the weird thing about that is they weren't spooked at all by Gary and Mary West's litigiousness two years ago.
Another possibility is they are going to give him a light suspension, and to do that, you want to drag this out as far as possible and let the public outrage die down.
They can't sweep it completely under the rug, because the only reason CHRB was able to do that when Baffert stole the Santa Anita Derby (and eventually the Triple Crown) with Justify was because the test results were never made public, allowing the CHRB to commit the felony of holding a secret meeting to change the regulation and legalize Baffert's cheating. By the time it came out, there was little that could be done (though I am still rooting for Mick Ruis' longshot suit).
Here, they are going to have to at least disqualify the horse. That's mandatory, and everyone knows it. But if they want to give Baffert a slap on the wrist beyond that, they want to wait as long as possible to do it so that it fades from the news.
In contrast, if their intention is to give a harsh punishment, you want to do it when everyone is still outraged, and not worry about the inevitable lawsuit (which KHRC will win anyway). So if they actually are going to hit Baffert hard, it's a mistake to wait.
