Bob Baffert
FRANKFORT, KY.--The hearing to appeal Bob Baffert's suspension by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in Franklin County (Ky.) Circuit Court was delayed Wednesday morning and rescheduled until Mar. 17. The delay was put into place to allow the KHRC hearing on the same matter, scheduled for this Friday, Mar. 4, to be held in advance of the Franklin County hearing, as a successful outcome for Baffert with the KHRC Friday would have rendered Wednesday's hearing moot. Judge Thomas Wingate said he would issue his decision on Monday, Mar. 21, after...
Carlo and Priscilla Vaccarezza won a $1.06-million jury award in a California court Feb. 25 over a veterinary malpractice and negligence lawsuit against the Equine Medical Center and Dr. Vince Baker, who is the longtime attending veterinarian for trainer Bob Baffert. The case dates to the 2014 Breeders' Cup and a filly the Vaccarezzas owned and trained, Little Alexis. The couple alleged that she was mistreated by Baker for a lump on her jugular vein and cleared to race. Not only did Little Alexis finish ninth in the GI Filly...
Trainer Bob Baffert has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky against Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI), CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen and CDI Board Chair Alex Rankin. Baffert is seeking a preliminary or permanent injunction that will enjoin Churchill from barring him. At present, Baffert cannot compete in the 2022 or 2023 runnings of the GI Kentucky Derby or any other races at Churchill or Churchill-owned tracks. He is also fighting a separate action from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which suspended him for 90...
The connections of recently disqualified GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) took to a Kentucky court Monday in an attempt to keep their equine drug positive penalizations from being enforced while their case gets appealed at the commission level. Trainer Bob Baffert is facing a 90-day suspension and $7,500 fine for now-deceased Medina Spirit's betamethasone overage in the 2021 Derby. Owner Amr Zedan has been ordered by the KHRC to forfeit his colt's purse winnings. But the DQ of Medina Spirit from America's most important horse race will affect...
Baoma Corp.'s Ganadora (Quality Road), installed the 6-5 choice in this first go, slugged it out early with So It Would Seem (Honor Code), but was peerless in the stretch, running away to win by an impressive 6 1/2-length margin over 2-1 second choice Lady T (Into Mischief). Mixing it up through a sharp opening pace in :21.58 and :44.74, the $1-million KEESEP buy kicked clear turning for home and proved much the best late to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors. So It Would Seem faded to second last. Ganadora...
As had been anticipated, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) will honor the 90-day suspension meted down to trainer Bob Baffert by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) if the trainer's legal efforts to block the suspension aren't successful in the interim, confirmed a CHRB spokesperson Saturday morning. Likewise, the CHRB will reciprocate any stay on the KHRC's ruling "if granted by a court," the spokesperson confirmed in an email. Earlier this month, the KHRC handed Baffert a 90-day suspension and a $7,500 fine after Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive...
The Saudi Derby had been won by horses based in Japan in each of its first two runnings and the island nation swept the first three races on Saturday's Saudi Cup undercard. Given a positive ride by Flavien Prat over a racing surface that seemed kind to front-runners, Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) had his full battling qualities on display and withstood a late charge from Sekifu (Jpn) (Henny Hughes) to register a half-length success in the $1.5-million test, upgraded to Group 3 level for the first time in 2022. Off to...
Amr Zedan, who sat down with Nick Luck on the world feed of the Saudi Cup Day races Saturday, offered a passionate defense of his trainer and friend Bob Baffert, pledging to take their Kentucky Derby title defense of Medina Spirit (Protonico) all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court if necessary, using his substantial means to do so. "Myself, my means, my resources are at Bob Baffert's disposal," Zedan told Luck. "We are going to see this 'til the end, and if it takes going to the Supreme...
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has denied trainer Bob Baffert's request for a stay of a 90-day suspension handed down to him earlier in the week for Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s betamethasone positive in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. The KHRC also denied a stay of its decision to disqualify Medina Spirit from first place in last year's GI Kentucky Derby. The Louisville Courier Journal and the Daily Racing Form were among the first to report the story. In most circumstances, once a trainer or owner has appealed a racing...
In the long story of the breed, there has never been a week's work remotely approaching the one Mandaloun (Into Mischief) bids to complete in the desert on Saturday. It opened with his formal elevation as winner of America's most prestigious race; and could conclude with him banking the biggest prize anywhere on planet Turf.
In the long story of the breed, there has never been a week's work remotely approaching the one Mandaloun (Into Mischief) bids to complete in the desert on Saturday. It opened with his formal elevation as winner of America's most prestigious race; and could conclude with him banking the biggest prize anywhere on planet Turf. As has come to seem wearyingly inevitable, nobody imagines that the first leg of this dazing double was necessarily concluded by the disqualification of Medina Spirit (Protonico). We proudly advertise the GI Kentucky Derby as...
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--Amr Zedan has a runner in the world's richest race staged Saturday in his home country of Saudi Arabia. The Bob Baffert-trained Country Grammer (Tonalist), whom he part-owns with WinStar Farm and Commonwealth Thoroughbreds, was not however the horse he had hoped to be running. Zedan's original intention was for Medina Spirit (Protonico) to be lining up in the country from which his name is derived, but the horse who finished first past the post in the last year's Kentucky Derby collapsed and died in December. On Monday...