I’ll leave the punchlines for others. A year ago, Donald Trump, who at the time was President of the United States, signed legislation that was the most significant step ever to reform horse racing with its numerous failings. A year later that law may have hit a major roadblock, and Trump had nothing to do with it. Last week, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) “suspended” their negotiations to have USADA become the independent enforcement body to implement the federal law (also known as HISA) mandating a national medication c ..read more

There may not be many silver linings to a once-prominent trainer being sentenced to five years in a federal prison for doping violations or to the ongoing saga of Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit. But one salutary aspect appears to be a growing sense that it is not just trainers and veterinarians who bear sole responsibility for drug violations but owners as well. While that may obvious, so far there have been no legal consequences for owners other than losing a purse following a medication violation. That may finally be changing. Last week two prominent racing media sites have singled out one ow ..read more

A universal concept in regulating horse racing is “trainer responsibility.” When it comes to issues of behavior including, for example, drug positives, the trainer is held strictly responsible for what transpires in his or her barn. Bob Baffert could well be the poster child for those who oppose that concept in both theory and practice. He has rarely accepted responsibility for his horses testing positive, most recently and notably, with Churchill Downs’ determination that Derby “winner” Medina Spirit had an impermissible medication in his system during the race. Baffert first denied that the ..read more

When even elected Republican leaders are starting to get religion on dealing with the increasing spread of Covid-19, how long will NYRA continue to ignore it? As I wrote in this post, NYRA had initially planned to separate the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, but changed prior to the open of Saratoga in favor of a policy of trusting the irresponsible to become responsible so they could get down on the double. So the track was open to all, with no restrictions, as if the virus were no longer a threat. But the Delta variant of the virus has become an increasing threat both because of its higher ..read more

Wednesday’s court decision enjoining the New York Racing Association from banning Bob Baffert from racing or stabling at its facilities, including Saratoga, came as a major disappointment to the many racing fans hoping the trainer would finally face some accountability. While it is a short-term victory for the Baffert camp, the longer range implications are more troublesome for them. NYRA suspended Baffert following the announcement that alleged Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had tested positive for betamethasone, a medication prohibited in post-race tests in Kentucky. It was the fifth dr ..read more

The New York Racing Association is to be commended for their actions in barring Bob Baffert from entering races or stabling at NYRA tracks including Saratoga Race Course. In its legal brief opposing Baffert’s motion for an injunction, NYRA encapsulated its position succinctly: “Medina Spirit’s positive test marked the fifth time in the past year that a horse trained by Plaintiff tested positive for drugs, with the prior four drug-related violations culminating in fines imposed for regulators in three states. Rarely in the history of the sport has there been such a confluence of drug positives ..read more

When horse racing makes the mainstream media it is for one of four reasons: a) Kentucky Derby result; b) drugs; c) fatalities; d) corruption. Recent articles in The New Yorker and The Washington Post were able to hit all four areas. I trust it goes without saying that three of those will not present a positive view of racing. Only the Derby tends to be positive, but as both articles point out, there are elements of the other three in this year’s event. A concept I have only recently become familiar with is racing’s “license to operate.” It is the notion that only public acceptance of an activi ..read more

There is perhaps a mistaken view that only Medina Spirit’s drug positive is the news in racing. I hate to disabuse of that notion, but there are four other stories of note. The first is that two trainers in the Belmont Stakes have experienced their own recent positives. Doug O’Neill, trainer of Hot Rod Charlie, had a horse test positive while he was on the ballot for the Hall of Fame. John Sadler, trainer of Rock Your World, had a horse recently test positive. Their horses are likely to be among the top betting choices in the Belmont and were indeed, the second and third betting choices in the ..read more

The world-renown Blue Ribbon Belmont Stakes Analysis is up on the Horse Racing page ..read more

The famed Blue Ribbon Preakness Analysis is up on the Horse Racing page ..read more