BOB BAFFET is back at Kentucky Derby for the first time in four years, having served his punishment For the Medina Spirit's drug testing and coming to the place where he won a record six times.
He settled in his old barn 33, the panels boosting his triumphs by Churchill Downs hanging on the outside wall.
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“I'm going to have fun now that everything is behind me,” said Associated Press in an interview this week.
White hair coach Will Saddle Wood Memorial Winner Rodriguez And Citizen TaurusChampion of 2 years last year, in the derby on May 3.
“It is more important for me to come back with a living horse,” he said. “I really have the impression that this year, I have two horses that could be in the top five, in the top 10.”
Buffe has spent the last three years far from the race he values the most, relegated to television with his family and friends. Removing part of the bite was the knowledge he had no horse which, according to him, could have won it these years.
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“The derby is a great experience if you have a capable horse that has a chance,” he said.
He thought he had this horse in 2021, with Medina Spirit first crossing the finish line to gave to slaughter a record victory of the seventh derby.
Until a failing drug screening test finally disqualified the Colt – just the second in the history of the derby to be DQ'd for this reason – and tarnished the reputation of a coach known as the face of horse races, having won the triple crown in 2015 and 2018.
Slack was initially two -year -old in June 2021 for the MEDINA positive mind tests for betamethasoneA steroid that is legal as therapy in Kentucky but which is not allowed in the system of a horse on the day of the race.
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“We have never denied the positive,” he said. “We knew we had the positive.”
Buffet said that he and his lawyers had tried to explain that Medina's mind had been treated with a topical ointment containing the steroid for skin inflammation.
His biggest regret?
“I hope that I would have known the (steroid) having betamethasone,” he said. “With hindsight, we would have left him (in California). Then we would not have had this problem.
“But in the end, it still cannot be in his system and that was the problem.”
The Louisville track nailed an additional year to its suspension in July 2023 after continuous legal calls for slapming regarding the failure of the test. In January 2024, he dropped the call linked to the DQ of Medina Spirit. The Colt died following a training session at the end of 2021.
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Accept the words of contrition of harvesting, Churchill Downs has raised his suspension Last July and He returned to the track in the fall to win a race. Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Inc., was there to shake his hand.
“We had a good conversation,” said slack. “I understood his position.”
The test wreaked havoc on the 72 -year -old coach and his family, his customers and his portfolio.
“This is one of those things where I'm just tired of talking about it,” he said. “It was difficult for three years and I put it behind me.”
While the suspension prevented stammered from participating in Churchill Downs, his horses were able to run in the other races of triple crowns. He won the preakness In 2023 for a record time.
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Being back in his former Kentucky house brought together with people he has not seen in recent years. And his return is greeted by certain rival coaches.
“There is no doubt that Bob Baffert is very popular and attracts the attention of many people. He deserves to be back,” said Mark Casse, who saddle Sandman in the derby. “We all want to win, but we want to beat the best.”
Michael McCarthy probably leads to the favorite journalism of the derby and sees a daily in their shared base of Santa Anita in California.
“It is a polarizing figure of our sport,” said McCarthy, adding that Buffet “puts people in the seats”.
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Despite precarious moments for the race in California, Baffert is continued in the only work he has ever had as long as he even appreciates it and attracts the type of owners who can afford quality horses.
“I love the journey of all of this,” he said. “After so many years of success, you think you have built enough equity where you could somehow sail, but not as a horses trainer. Each year, I start again. This is what makes me move forward. These horses are excellent therapy.”
Buffete wins a 33% clip this year in a sport where misery is often upon us.
“It's a funny business if you let it be a fun business,” he said. “If you don't let it make yourself bitter, everything will be fine and I have not let me be bitter. What happened, I arrived. I took responsibility for it, so that's it. ”
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AP Horse Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing
