As a horse whinnied loudly somewhere off in the distance, Bob Baffert joked that the animal clearly had something to add to the conversation. There is, of course, a lot to talk about where Baffert is concerned.
Horse racing’s most recognizable face has become horse racing’s biggest lightning rod. Depending on who you ask, Baffert is either a blight on the sport that needs to be removed, or is a victim being persecuted by a sport he helped steer out of near extinction. For the past three years, Baffert has fought in both actual court and the court of public opinion to save his reputation, pitting the man who has won the Kentucky Derby six times against Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI), the race’s caretaker.
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On the only scorecard that matters, CDI has won. The track officials’ three-year banishment of Baffert has stood. Baffert has not competed in horse racing’s premier event since his would-be seventh Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, was disqualified in 2022.
But in an exclusive conversation with The Athletic, Baffert, who waffled between anger and exasperation for much of his suspension, no longer sounds like a man up for a fight. He sounds, instead, like he’s ready to put the gloves down and find a reconciliation. “While I had to sit out the 150th Kentucky Derby, I am committed to having an amicable resolution with Churchill Downs in order to have the opportunity to compete again for the Triple Crown,’’ he said.
The catch, of course, is it’s not really up to him. The decision to allow Baffert to race again in Louisville, as the courts have determined, is Churchill’s to make. Baffert is well aware of that, and when asked how a peace treaty might be brokered, the trainer deferred to the track. “I just look forward to hopefully being able to race there next year,’’ he said.
Nine years ago, as American Pharoah came around the final turn at Belmont Park, the thunderous roar that accompanied the horse down the stretch extended well beyond the finish line. From 1978 to 2015, 12 other horses had arrived at the Long Island oval with a shot at ending the Triple Crown jinx, only to fail in various ways at the finish. Pharoah’s completion of what increasingly felt like an impossible mission gave the sport a much-needed hero and elevated Baffert, who watched his horse complete the final leg of the sport of kings with a man dressed as Burger King behind him, to a solo perch within his profession.
Three years later, when Justify matched Pharoah’s efforts and made Baffert only the second man to win two Triple Crowns, he felt beyond reach.
Justify, ridden by jockey Mike Smith and trained by Bob Baffert, crosses the finish line to win the Belmont Stakes in 2018 and become the thirteenth Triple Crown winner. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
But the years since have not been kind to Baffert or horse racing.
In 2019, Derby winner Maximum Security was disqualified for impeding the path of another horse and in 2020, the pandemic wreaked havoc on the Triple Crown calendar. In 2021, when Baffert’s Medina Spirit crossed the Derby finish line first in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 51,000, it felt as if at least some order had been restored. Instead, Medina Spirit’s victory ushered in a run of controversy and tragedy for horse racing, the industry beset by court challenges and horse deaths that left fans legitimately concerned for its future. Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a steroid that is permitted as a therapeutic remedy for horses but not allowed to be present on race day.
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Eventually, the horse would be disqualified and Baffert banned for a year from both Pimlico, the site of the Preakness, and Belmont Park. Churchill, however, suspended him for two seasons.
Baffert and the horse’s ownership fought Medina Spirit’s DQ in courts, and the trainer litigated against his suspension as well. But as the cases went on, Baffert sat out the 2023 Derby. In the run-up to the race, 12 horses died, and five horses, including favorite Forte, were scratched from the starting lineup. Churchill Downs eventually shuttered the track for two months, allowing inspectors to ensure that the track surface was safe.
In the meantime, two weeks later, Baffert returned to Triple Crown racing, winning his record eighth Preakness with National Treasure. The trainer wept in the winner’s circle — but not because of his success. Rather, earlier that day, his horse Havnameltdown broke down and had to be euthanized, giving more fodder to the skeptics who questioned Baffert’s return to the sport to begin with.
With all of that percolating — and its own track shuttered to allow officials to check its surfaces — CDI extended Baffert’s suspension in July 2023 because of his “unwillingness to accept responsibility” and his continued effort to “peddle false narratives’’ surrounding Medina Spirit’s positive test. That meant Baffert would be shut out of the historic 150th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Not so simple. When Muth, a Baffert-trained horse, won the Arkansas Derby to earn enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, his owner sought a temporary injunction against Baffert’s suspension to allow the horse to compete. An appellate court eventually denied the injunction.
Baffert watched Mystik Dan win by a nose in a three-horse photo finish on TV from his California home.
Despite that long, litigious, and oftentimes contentious, battle, Baffert said he watched the race with no ill will. Instead, he marveled at the Derby “show,” wowed by the renovations to the Churchill Downs paddock and gripped by the first three-horse photo finish since 1947.
“It was a crazy race, a great race,’’ he said of the photo finish between Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone and Forever Young. “Hopefully it gets even more people excited about horse racing.’’
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Baffert, in fact, was more than reticent to rehash the past; he was summarily disinterested. He refused to comment about a New York Times documentary that examined the death of Havnameltdown and said repeatedly how much he wanted to work things out with CDI. He talked about the challenges of being the face of a sport where the real athletes can’t speak for themselves, but without the hint of aggravation. He recalled as a young trainer watching D. Wayne Lukas face similar scrutiny and someone then offering Baffert what he still considers sage advice — “just keep working.’’ With 40 2-year-olds in his care, he said he is grateful to the owners who continue to send him horses, and is determined to just enjoy what he’s doing.
“I’m like Bill Belichick,’’ he joked, “I just want to talk about Baltimore.’’
Except, of course, the tenor of that conversation also has shifted. Though Baffert did not present it as such, the Preakness loomed as the beginning of his revenge tour. Muth, the horse denied entry at the Derby, was named the morning-line favorite following Monday’s post-position draw. Though it was the first time since 2012 that a Derby-winning entrant into the Preakness field did not earn the betting odds’ top spot, the line made sense. In March, when Muth won the Arkansas Derby, he outpaced third-place-finishing Mystik Dan by 6 ¼ lengths.
But on Wednesday, after a six-hour delay transporting from Los Angeles to Baltimore the night before, Muth didn’t eat his grain and developed a 103-degree fever. Baffert scratched the horse that morning. He will instead target next month’s Belmont Stakes.
Preakness favorite Muth has been scratched from the race due to a high temperature, trainer Bob Baffert told The Athletic.
“We’re all really disappointed, but there’s really no choice," Baffert said.
More from @DanaONeilWriter ⤵️https://t.co/htOCV5oFOc
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 15, 2024
As for Baffert, he will put all of his efforts into Imagination, a second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby who has won two of his six starts. Baffert said the horse is “getting better with every race’’ and said repeatedly he believed the race would be exceptionally competitive.
But when asked before Muth’s scratch how he felt bringing the favorite to the starting gates, he laughed. “I had someone tell me once that they don’t like the bright lights. That you need to avoid the big lights,’’ he said. “Not me. I love the bright lights.”
And no doubt they’ll continue to shine on Baffert.
(Photo of Bob Baffert with Medina Spirit: Ryan C. Hermens / Lexington Herald-Leader / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Dana O’Neil, a senior writer for The Athletic, has worked for more than 25 years as a sports writer, covering the Final Four, the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and NHL playoffs. She has worked previously at ESPN and the Philadelphia Daily News. She is the author of three books, including "The Big East: Inside the Most Entertaining and Influential Conference in College Basketball History." Follow Dana on Twitter @DanaONeilWriter
