Bob Baffert suspended 90 days, fined $7,500, Medina Spirit DQed from Kentucky Derby

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

One thing for sure is that if he goes, he's looks like the least likely to be able to relax behind horses. If the other speeds chase him it might get super hot like the old days. There are quite a few quality horses that I'd say like the lead. If I was a trainer I might be trying to teach my horse to relax a little right about now.

Asmussen got the message with Epicenter.

[classhandicapper]

There's a pretty good thread on the Thorograph forum about Baffert with Jerry Brown weighing in on the subject multiple times.

[burnsy]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

Asmussen got the message with Epicenter.

He’s just a good trainer. That horse came out a little under cranked. Just a decent effort , first out then he’s trying to pump a little more each start to get improvement . Yesterday was the point where he’s says:Epicenter , fit as I can get him . Building seasoning….. next step up is up to the horse.

On the Baffert thing. The internet never disappoints on stupidity. It comes from both sides. One side, the haters might have to stop the “witch hunt” cause Country Grammar won! He’s the best trainer. The other side: That SOB cheats all the time. Wait for the test!


Reality: he’s a great trainer , with a big ego that I believe has cut corners if the horse is not 100% healthy. I mean the proof now speaks for itself. But the guy has won thousands of races legit. It’s a gambling game, must be trust worthy and more importantly the safety of the horse and rider should come first. I don’t hate him but at this point he deserves sanctions.

[classhandicapper]

The thing with Epicenter is that he already lost once by getting involved in a very fast pace. That should be enough to make you consider trying to teach him to relax behind horses in case he ever runs into an extreme pace again (like in the Derby). He took a shot at it yesterday. Had the horse gotten very rank or didn't respond late at even money Twitter would have been screaming hysterically about taking him out of his game. But if it failed, he could always go back back to what he was doing or continue the lessons in training. The horse relaxed and finished well. So now he's in a much better position. He knows he can use the horse's speed when it's an advantage and take back a bit if necessary. Sometimes it's OK to take a horse out its game for a race trying to teach it something. You might even win anyway.

[Thomas Roulston]

Epicenter has the most Derby-friendly pedigree to run in the race since Proud Truth - DI 0.60, CD -0.42 - and has no chef-de-race representation in either the Brilliant or Intermediate aptitutidinal groups.

The Kentucky Derby? Epicenter would win the Display Handicap if it still existed!

[Robert Fischer]

Should be some trending buzz if Doppelganger 'fires', given the barn transfer to former assistant Yakteen, and the love of the headlining filly Secret Oath.

I personally regard Doppelganger as a threat to win or even move forward with a bit of a personal best, but the barn transfer conspiracy stuff is not significant in my own thought process here.

By the way, it looks to be a potentially nice race. Secret Oath taking on the boys, Doppelganger a serious racehorse, Cox has some talent to push forward in Cyberknife, and Winstar has a fundamentally sound horse to push forward in 'We the People' for Brisset(outer connection of nodes here = Prat for whatever politics or choice has the mount on We the People rather than Doppelganger and Brisset is getting a horse or two transferred from Baffert 'BlackAdder'(SF Racing owner of Doppelganger has a share of Blackadder as well) and Brisset has gotten a few horses seeming normally sent to Baffert or Pletcher in the relatively recent past).

Originally Posted by Thomas Roulston

Epicenter has the most Derby-friendly pedigree to run in the race since Proud Truth - DI 0.60, CD -0.42 - and has no chef-de-race representation in either the Brilliant or Intermediate aptitutidinal groups.

The Kentucky Derby? Epicenter would win the Display Handicap if it still existed!

Thomas that is a really cool pedigree. I'm not a breeder-level knowledge of it all, nor am I big stats guy on pedigree, but some quality in the family and I like when a clear-cut classy 'Route' pedigree happens to have the quickness and speed, sometimes as opposed to miler pedigrees who are so talented and well trained that they get the 10f.
on the dam side is King of Kings, for some reason Epicenter physically has some similar characteristics.

[BarchCapper]

Hadn't seen this posted yet.

Unless he appeals to the Kentucky Supreme Court AND they decide to take it on (they don't have to, per the article), looks like the suspension might actually take effect on Monday.

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac...on-stay-motion

[Andy Asaro]

Twitter

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Andy Asaro

https://twitter.com/AnneMigone/statu...40656277909510

I wonder if this will be a turning point on staying suspensions. Here's a guy who hired some really expensive lawyers and the Court said "no irreparable harm, serve your suspension".

That sends a real signal to racing commissions that if they impose serious punishments, the courts will back them.

[Elkchester Road]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

I wonder if this will be a turning point on staying suspensions. Here's a guy who hired some really expensive lawyers and the Court said "no irreparable harm, serve your suspension".

That sends a real signal to racing commissions that if they impose serious punishments, the courts will back them.

dilanesp...let's hope so.

[affirmedny]

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story...-medina-spirit

Kentucky regulators recorded calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by affirmedny

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story...-medina-spirit

Kentucky regulators recorded calls without consent with Baffert after Medina Spirit test

This is unmitigated BS and I look forward to Baffert's attorneys losing this argument in court.

California has no power to restrict a Kentucky state agency from recording calls with its licensee. California does not assert this power, and if tried to, it would violate Kentucky's state sovereignty.

Baffert's lawyers are just trying to put out garbage for his fanboys to repeat.

[classhandicapper]

Interesting that most of the horses went to one trainer. That sounds like most or all will be coming back as soon as his vacation is over. The top 3yos may be different because even after the Triple Crown sequence there are races at Saratoga to consider where he may still be out.

[v j stauffer]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

Interesting that most of the horses went to one trainer. That sounds like most or all will be coming back as soon as his vacation is over. The top 3yos may be different because even after the Triple Crown sequence there are races at Saratoga to consider where he may still be out.

I don't know if it's still the case. But when I was out there hustling book 2007 - 2009. Sean McCarthy's wife was Baffert's bookkeeper.

[ubercapper]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

This is unmitigated BS and I look forward to Baffert's attorneys losing this argument in court.

California has no power to restrict a Kentucky state agency from recording calls with its licensee. California does not assert this power, and if tried to, it would violate Kentucky's state sovereignty.

Baffert's lawyers are just trying to put out garbage for his fanboys to repeat.

There were some very interesting posts on Twitter about interstate calls recorded in a one-party consent state when the recipient is in a two-party consent state. A good number of people brought up Kearney vs Solomon Smith Barney (decided in 2006 by the Ca Supreme Court) but in that case Smith Barney was in GA but had offices in California.



As I understand the issues (which Greg Doucette admitted can put even good attorneys to sleep over), specifically this https://t.co/sKpjS3LYPm the hovers over the "conflict of laws" doctrine and that in itself is why no one is going to touch it, unless they have (in my opinion) unlimited financial resources.