Like Brady Suspension, Baffert Banned
It was announced Monday afternoon that famed trainer Bob Baffert had been banned from entering horses or occupying stall space in New York tracks, including Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack. Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for banned substance betamethasone (found in an anti-fungal cream) and the racing world anxiously awaits results of the split sample test. If so, the Derby win will be vacated, monies will be retracted from the stable and we likely see more actions taken against Baffert.
And, there are reportedly multiple class action lawsuits in process from frustrated bettors. Remember, the second-place horse in the Derby, Mandaloun, went off at 26-1. Precedence has been set, as there was a payout in 2020 to litigants that filed a lawsuit alleging fraud and racketeering on the results of a 2016 race in New Jersey.
The amount of betamethasone in Medina Spirit that yielded the positive test was 21 picograms. To put it in perspective, 1 gram is equal to 1,000,000,000,000 picograms. Suffice to say, we’re not talking about a huge amount of this substance in Medina Spirit’s system.
This move was announced only after Rombauer raced to a four-length victory over Medina Spirit in the Preakness Stakes. If Medina Spirit was running for the Triple Crown at The Belmont Stakes, there’s no chance in hell that The New York Racing Association takes this action. That’s history. That’s storied stuff.
Instead, with the whispers that often surround horse racing giving way to bullhorns following Baffert’s odd media blitz with varying conspiracy theories and sending up the “cancel culture” flag, The NYRA took this action against the sport’s biggest name. Baffert’s winning and mane of his own are legendary (he was spoofed this week on SNL for his early-week press availability – it was always said that you’d broken through the collective consciousness if SNL parodied you), but his horses have also tallied 30 positive drug tests.
It feels, on some level, like the Deflategate debacle that engulfed the NFL and resulted in the suspension of then-Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. You had swirling rumors of rule-stretching or breaking for years and the scandal that was SpyGate. Even in 2021, you’ll hear the “Don’t think they’re not doing something,” to describe the Patriots’ efforts to gain an advantage. Others aren’t trying to gain an advantage?
So to some, when an interception turned into “this ball is flat” and then into a massive investigation, many in the media swallowed every line on it —- this was the Patriots and Brady going too far! The league punished Brady for utilizing under-inflated footballs during the 2014 AFC Championship Game against the Colts.
Never mind the score of then-current and former quarterbacks that talked openly about their personal preferences about a football’s inflation and the instructions laid out to equipment managers. Never mind how the league allowed quarterbacks such as Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brady to influence rules on balls put into play. And never mind that we’ve never seen another PSI measurement from a game as part of a recap or box score after the NFL sent Brady to the sidelines. If it was that important, we’d be seeing those measurements, wouldn’t we?
It doesn’t take away from the nonsensical answers provided by the principals of these situations.
I tie these items together in that the NFL and The NYRA took big stances against the heavyweights of their respective sports. That’s good for the folks occupying the power seats. Look tough.
