Thoroughbred Racing Wrestles With Its Reputation
Trotman
Senior Member
Thoroughbred Racing Wrestles With Its Reputation
By HARVEY ARATON
Louisville, Ky.
Backside at Churchill Downs, Friday morning, a quarter past seven. Bob Baffert leans against a fence, alongside the sloppy track, surrounded (as usual) by what can only be called his entourage. Baffert holds a cellphone to his ear as D. Wayne Lukas comes clomping along on a horse and stops to chat.
Its standard big boy fare, insults exchanged, a salty ex-wife joke thrown in. Then Baffert is relaying a question from his guy on the line.
He wants to know if youre still in business, Baffert asks Lukas.
That would depend on the specificity required to sufficiently answer.
When I first began coming here in the mid-1990s, the business of thoroughbred racing and especially the Kentucky Derby seemed to be all about Lukas and Baffert, who in a half-decade of combined dominance won five straight between 1995 and 1999.
Neither has won here since Bafferts third Derby victory in 2002, (one short of the four Lukas began compiling in 1988). Safe to say that the sport, much less celebrated now, more under siege, has become poorer for the lack of winners-circle superstars to do for the horses preen and promote what they cant do for themselves.
The guard is changing, youve got a different breed of trainers and I think the press has intimidated a lot of them, Baffert said. They see what the press can do, how they can cause a lot of harm and so you get a little bit
He didnt finish the thought, which, sorry, would have to be: defensive and hopefully embarrassed about some of the misfortune not all that the industry has brought upon itself.
Even Baffert, ever conspicuous with his silver mane and trademark shades, claims to have lowered his profile. My goal is to come here, have a good time, bring a good horse and keep out of trouble, he said. Im much more boring than I used to be.
Fortunately for Baffert, he will be saddling one of the Derby favorites, Pioneerof the Nile (Lukas is in with Flying Private, a very long shot). As for the more boring claim, thats a relative matter. As recently as 2006, Baffert created a news media ruckus here by hosting the Olympian Alpine skier Bode Miller, whose given name Baffert also gave his baby son.
Like Lukas, a former high school basketball coach who counts Bob Knight and Bill Parcells among his high-stepping friends, Baffert relates to the world outside the backside. He is adept in the informed art of the cross-reference, no paltry capacity in a line of work once known as Lukas memorably put it for trainers sitting in front of the stall, whittling away and chewing tobacco.
A short walk from Bafferts barn, where the two-time Derby winner Nick Zito was keeping an eye on his long-shot entry, Nowhere to Hide, Nick of New York was less inclined to brushstroke the new generation. He did agree that the younger guys need to sell the sport to at least try to balance the inevitable breakdowns, drug revelations and other sordid thoroughbred tales that recently have included slaughter and neglect.
As if timed to reinforce Zitos point, he was handed a two-page memo from the track stewards office warning against the use of Air Power, a medication used by the trainer Jeff Mullins at Aqueduct last month in the barn before a race. Its a legal substance but not in that place or time (and not the first such offense for Mullins).
Do people even know the stuff is legal? Zito said. Doesnt matter, the horse is out of the barn.
Another negative with the potential to be compounded if Mullinss Derby contender, I Want Revenge, should win Saturday, hours before he will begin a seven-day suspension imposed by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
How awkward would that be for the sport? Probably on par with a victory by one of two horses entered by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, the aspiring sports empire most recently and notoriously responsible for a flap with tennis over its refusal to admit an Israeli womens player.
In his sports defense, Baffert said: A good horse brings families together. Ive always said if Britney Spears had gotten into horse racing, she wouldnt have gotten into so much trouble. Its such a great sport but, unfortunately, its been getting a lot of the negative.
He mentioned Barbaro, the 2006 Derby winner who broke down at the Preakness and was euthanized early the next year, and Eight Belles, whose legs crumpled here after finishing second last year and who had to be put down.
Not all the bad has been about luck, or lack thereof, and those problems will never be charmed into submission. But personable winners do drive a sport, as Baffert acknowledged before he left to do what comes natural for him live television.
Lucky for thoroughbred racing that Baffert is still in business.
By HARVEY ARATON
Louisville, Ky.
Backside at Churchill Downs, Friday morning, a quarter past seven. Bob Baffert leans against a fence, alongside the sloppy track, surrounded (as usual) by what can only be called his entourage. Baffert holds a cellphone to his ear as D. Wayne Lukas comes clomping along on a horse and stops to chat.
Its standard big boy fare, insults exchanged, a salty ex-wife joke thrown in. Then Baffert is relaying a question from his guy on the line.
He wants to know if youre still in business, Baffert asks Lukas.
That would depend on the specificity required to sufficiently answer.
When I first began coming here in the mid-1990s, the business of thoroughbred racing and especially the Kentucky Derby seemed to be all about Lukas and Baffert, who in a half-decade of combined dominance won five straight between 1995 and 1999.
Neither has won here since Bafferts third Derby victory in 2002, (one short of the four Lukas began compiling in 1988). Safe to say that the sport, much less celebrated now, more under siege, has become poorer for the lack of winners-circle superstars to do for the horses preen and promote what they cant do for themselves.
The guard is changing, youve got a different breed of trainers and I think the press has intimidated a lot of them, Baffert said. They see what the press can do, how they can cause a lot of harm and so you get a little bit
He didnt finish the thought, which, sorry, would have to be: defensive and hopefully embarrassed about some of the misfortune not all that the industry has brought upon itself.
Even Baffert, ever conspicuous with his silver mane and trademark shades, claims to have lowered his profile. My goal is to come here, have a good time, bring a good horse and keep out of trouble, he said. Im much more boring than I used to be.
Fortunately for Baffert, he will be saddling one of the Derby favorites, Pioneerof the Nile (Lukas is in with Flying Private, a very long shot). As for the more boring claim, thats a relative matter. As recently as 2006, Baffert created a news media ruckus here by hosting the Olympian Alpine skier Bode Miller, whose given name Baffert also gave his baby son.
Like Lukas, a former high school basketball coach who counts Bob Knight and Bill Parcells among his high-stepping friends, Baffert relates to the world outside the backside. He is adept in the informed art of the cross-reference, no paltry capacity in a line of work once known as Lukas memorably put it for trainers sitting in front of the stall, whittling away and chewing tobacco.
A short walk from Bafferts barn, where the two-time Derby winner Nick Zito was keeping an eye on his long-shot entry, Nowhere to Hide, Nick of New York was less inclined to brushstroke the new generation. He did agree that the younger guys need to sell the sport to at least try to balance the inevitable breakdowns, drug revelations and other sordid thoroughbred tales that recently have included slaughter and neglect.
As if timed to reinforce Zitos point, he was handed a two-page memo from the track stewards office warning against the use of Air Power, a medication used by the trainer Jeff Mullins at Aqueduct last month in the barn before a race. Its a legal substance but not in that place or time (and not the first such offense for Mullins).
Do people even know the stuff is legal? Zito said. Doesnt matter, the horse is out of the barn.
Another negative with the potential to be compounded if Mullinss Derby contender, I Want Revenge, should win Saturday, hours before he will begin a seven-day suspension imposed by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
How awkward would that be for the sport? Probably on par with a victory by one of two horses entered by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, the aspiring sports empire most recently and notoriously responsible for a flap with tennis over its refusal to admit an Israeli womens player.
In his sports defense, Baffert said: A good horse brings families together. Ive always said if Britney Spears had gotten into horse racing, she wouldnt have gotten into so much trouble. Its such a great sport but, unfortunately, its been getting a lot of the negative.
He mentioned Barbaro, the 2006 Derby winner who broke down at the Preakness and was euthanized early the next year, and Eight Belles, whose legs crumpled here after finishing second last year and who had to be put down.
Not all the bad has been about luck, or lack thereof, and those problems will never be charmed into submission. But personable winners do drive a sport, as Baffert acknowledged before he left to do what comes natural for him live television.
Lucky for thoroughbred racing that Baffert is still in business.