LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bob Baffert is not in hiding this week at Churchill Downs, but you could say he’s been a bit scarce. Usually game for a daily yuk-it-up with the media outside Barn 33, where Baffert for years reveled in his unofficial role as horse racing’s ambassador to the broader sports culture, there have been fewer question-and-answer scrums this time around.
Somehow, even though Baffert’s return after a three-year suspension should be the biggest story of the 151st Kentucky Derby, it has felt a bit like a footnote.
Part of the reason may be because Baffert’s two entries, Citizen Bull and Rodriguez, are not among the half-dozen or so horses soaking up the attention this year. But the more likely explanation is that there’s not much more left to ask or say about one of the most unfortunate chapters in Derby history.
It feels like everyone, Baffert included, is just running out the clock until Saturday, when it’s all old news — unless, of course, he happens to win the race.
“In racing, you have to accept when you get beat and you have to accept when things don’t go right,” Baffert told reporters last Friday, his first day on the grounds. “And it was one of those things where, well, I can’t change it. When I don’t have any control of it, I don’t worry about it.”
The idea that Baffert has been back in Southern California all this time just shrugging his shoulders is of course complete nonsense that ignores the lawsuits and intense PR effort that took place in hopes of clearing his name and restoring Medina Spirit’s 2021 Derby win that was stripped after a positive test for betamethasone.
When a person in Baffert’s position talks about acceptance, what they really mean is they’d rather just move on than rehash the trauma and embarrassment every time someone sticks a microphone in their face.
And you know what?
I don’t blame him one bit.
Whatever punishment you think Baffert deserved for Medina Spirit or any other drug violation on his record, the outcome of Churchill’s heavy-handedness is that an entire industry’s problems got dumped onto his reputation.
And that wasn’t fair.
Not when you have a trainer, Jason Servis, whose horse crossed the wire first in the 2019 Derby before being disqualified, currently serving a four-year prison sentence in Florida after a sting operation revealed his role in a widespread doping scheme.
Not when the drug-testing system in horse racing was completely disorganized and outdated before the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) took over and modernized antidoping in 2023.
Not when Churchill arbitrarily extended Baffert’s suspension from two to three years, with even Baffert’s competitors suspecting that it was because track officials didn’t want him sucking up the limelight last May during its celebration of the 150th Derby.
“It’s all behind us now,’ said Baffert, who has not had a single issue pop up since HISA took over, which is notable since a large segment of the industry has done nothing but complain for the past two years that HISA’s testing standards are overly strict and trainers are being punished too harshly for minor medication issues.
That’s not to absolve Baffert of anything.
Even though Medina Spirit’s positive test could plausibly be explained by the use of an ointment to treat dermatitis — which almost certainly had no impact on his performance in the 2021 Derby — a mistake like that can’t happen at the biggest race in the world when the stakes are this high.
And to the skeptic, it fit perfectly within the realm of other Baffert excuses for high-profile positive tests, like Jimson weed contaminating the feed or traces of lidocaine being accidentally transferred to the horse from a staff member wearing a therapeutic patch for back pain.
As any athlete in a sport like track or tennis knows, whether those were just convenient excuses or honest mistakes doesn’t really matter. If you test positive, you better be able to prove without a doubt it wasn’t your fault or you’ll likely pay a hefty price.
Still, Baffert’s timing couldn’t have been worse. In 2021, public perception was that horse racing had an existential crisis on its hands with doping out of control and safety standards that were far too lax, leading to more equine deaths than anyone thought were acceptable.
In retrospect, it does feel a little bit like Baffert was made into an example for being the sport’s most successful trainer who got on the wrong side of the rules at the one place — Churchill Downs — that cares about protecting its cash cow on the first Saturday in May above anything else.
Churchill claimed that it added a third year to Baffert’s suspension because he wouldn’t accept responsibility for what happened. But he was simply exercising his legal rights, along with the horse’s owner, Amr Zedan, to challenge the disqualification of Medina Spirit as anyone would do if they believed they had a good case. Preventing Baffert from running last year felt like a vindictive, ham-handed attempt to make sure he wasn’t in the winner’s circle for the landmark 150th Derby.
“I’m excited to have Bob back,’ said Mark Casse, the trainer of Derby contender Sandman. ‘Look, we all want to win. But we want to beat the best. You don’t really want to win with a little asterisk. I hope to beat him. But there’s no question that Bob Baffert is very popular and draws a lot of attention, and he deserves to be back.”
This year, Baffert has taken the approach not to stoke any of those fires or get drawn into any of the back-and-forth about what happened or his reputation. His approach has instead been much more matter-of-fact, if not a bit evasive. When asked if it hurt to have to watch the race on TV, he immediately said no because he didn’t think he had a horse who could win anyway.
“The Derby has always been my greatest memories and always will be, and it’s something that without the Derby, horse racing would have a totally different look,” Baffert said. “It’s getting bigger every year.”
Because Baffert gets sent more high-priced 2-year-olds than anyone in the sport — the privilege of being a six-time Derby winner — it’s likely he will win the roses at least once more before his career is through. And at that point, maybe there will be another rehash of the three tumultuous years in his relationship with Churchill Downs.
But now, thankfully, it seems like a moot point. He paid his price, and the world will move on. There’s not much more left to say except for the most important thing we’ll find out when the gate opens Saturday: Whether Citizen Bull or Rodriguez are good enough to send him to the winner’s circle.