The wildly successful Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert recently penned an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for passage of the (obviously oxymoronic) “Horseracing Integrity Act.” In it, Baffert claims “nothing is more important than the health and safety of our equine athletes,” and says “we must act decisively to protect the horses who are the stars of the show.” With that as backdrop, I give you three 2-year-olds killed under Baffert’s care in 2018 – two from sudden death.
unidentified 2-year-old, Aug 4, Los Alamitos T
“sudden death, acute cardiorespiratory collapse”; “numerous deep ulcers in stomach”
“Regretfully, the cause of sudden death of this horse will remain undetermined.”
unidentified 2-year-old, Nov 14, Los Alamitos T
“catastrophic shoulder fracture, massive hemorrhage”; “gastric ulceration”
unidentified 2-year-old, Nov 28, Los Alamitos T
“sudden death, acute cardiorespiratory failure”
“Regretfully, the cause of sudden death in this horse will remain undetermined.”
(source: CHRB)
Poor guy. I’m sure he’s just heartbroken.
Since getting to know Bob Baffert from documentaries on his life and how he grew up loving horses and then becoming a trainer I would assume he was devastated over these two deaths. Also, being a trainer who definitely cares for his horses I can’t understand why he couldn’t notice if one of his horses had an ailment. Animals have a way of not showing pain but I would assume their trainers would have them checked out by a vet on several times before they even step out on a race track. Maybe I’m a bit naive of what all goes into training a racehorse but I would think that the health of every horse introduced to a racetrack should be #1 on the agenda!
When you say you assume he was devastated over the deaths of those horses, you’re being sarcastic, right? Bob Baffert wouldn’t give two shits if a horse he trained snapped both legs off right in front of him and was writhing in the dirt right under his nose. This guy is a sadist and a chronic animal abuser who is only devastated when he doesn’t get a payday after all the dope, drugs, and God-only-knows what other illegal and probably toxic substances he shoots or pours into his horses. Like the other parasitic wastes in horse racing, he knows what to say to the press to keep his non-existant balls out of the public fire, but he’s spent a lifetime abusing, crippling, and disposing of horses through the slaughter pipeline, and he has no intention of stopping just because horse racing is under scrutiny. The health and well-being of his horses means nothing to him or anyone else involved in this antiquated horror show – they’re in this industry for the money and pathetic bit of prestige they get in front of their peers, and the horses are in the background as a disposable means to an end.
Thank you Rebecca-for saying EVERYTHING I was thinking about that post.
Thank you Rebecca, well said! Bob Baffert needs to be jailed for his ongoing animal abuse! No horse should be exposed to this torture!
Rebecca, thank you for stating what all of us are thinking.
Lol, I’m afraid you’re not joking.
Alan, I think she is incredibly naive and desperately wants to believe that the vast majority in racing put the horses first which we know isn’t true. Again, from Simon and Garfunkel’s song The Boxer…”Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Sad, but true.
If BB was so “devastated” over the racehorses dying under his care than he would have quit this business about 40 dead racehorses ago.
The health of the racehorses are not his priority it seems because many drop dead under his care and evidence has shown that he will use dope to win at the peril of the racehorses.
Hardy somebody who “cares.”
He only cares about himself and how much money he gets into his gambling accounts.
The racehorses are gambling chips in this business to be used and dumped.
He doesn’t love horses, he loves that he can make off them…anyone who loves horses wouldn’t race them…
Amen, Audrey! Those of us who love our animals, including horses, do everything in our power to protect them.
2 year old babies. This is why we can rely on humans to do the right thing. End it!!
I don’t have anything nice to say about Bob Baffert. He cannot possibly love horses in the true sense of the word love! Horseracing is absolute cruelty and torture to horses. Horseracing is fundamentally WRONG based on forcing BABIES to perform as though they were adults. Horses are babies at the age of one-year-old to 18 months. Horses are babies at the age of two-years-old. Horses are still not matured at the age of three-years-old which is the age at which some of these young and not matured Thoroughbred horses are forced to run for their lives in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The people that force their horses (babies) to run at top speed carrying over 100 pounds with injuries and drugged up to mask the pain are sadistic, barbaric monsters! They are not true horseman! They are violating all of the rules of true horsemanship! They do this knowingly and willfully! Bob Baffert is a lying, cheating, horse-abusing, horse-killing, two-faced, deceitful, sadistic and barbaric buffoon who does what he does because he loves ” fame” and fortune. He does NOT love horses. He loves to use and exploit horses for financial gain. He has NO SCRUPLES. If he had any SCRUPLES he would get out of horseracing and stop all of the sadistic abuse of horses. He would come to the realization that what he has done and continues to do is something to be ASHAMED OF, NOT proud of. He would realize that he belongs in the Hall of SHAME!!!!! He would realize that what he did to be in the trainers Hall of “Fame” is something to be ASHAMED of, not proud of IF HE HAD ANY SCRUPLES!!!!
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
Sharon, the health of every single horse should be the main concern of every single trainer, but we are talking about a GAMBLING industry where money is king. WINNING is #1 to most of the people immersed in racing, including good ole Bob “the Bastard” Baffert. Several years ago, six or seven of his horses dropped dead for no apparent reason. Bastard Bob had them on a thyroid med. Why were they on a thyroid med when they hadn’t been diagnosed with a thyroid condition? Just because! And let’s not forget about Justify who was found to have an excessive amount of scopolamine prior to the Derby but Bastard Bob got off and the scopolamine was attributed to contamination. Yeah, right! I’ve been around horses for over five decades and I can tell you that they are picky eaters. I wouldn’t trust Baffert as far as I could throw him. Oh, and where there is smoke, there is usually a little fire. End of story!
My favorite was “the groom had a prescription and peed in the stall”. Sure.
Bob Baffert defines the word “sociopath.”
Not only is he a cheater, but a racehorse killer.
He’s been doing this for years.
Than there’s the biggest scandal in horse racing history – JUSTIFY – and absolutely nothing came out of it when really BB should be in jail on fraudulent charges.
True to industry form they revere Bob Baffert.
There just isn’t enough dead racehorses under his care, custody, and control I suppose.
Then this:
https://www.sgvtribune.com/2020/03/19/should-horse-racing-continue-santa-anita-keeps-pushing-ahead/
While the entire world is on lockdown to avoid spreading the most deadliest virus in human history BB and multiple racehorse killer Mark Casse proclaims the virtues of horse racing and how Santa Anita should remain open.
These delusional parasites spew out fraudulent lines to the public as in this article:
“We’re an open-air sport,” he said. “We’re outdoors. We’re separated. Nobody’s in really super close contact. Just like the other day (at Santa Anita), the way they have it right now, it’s safer out there than going to a grocery store. Those are packed.”
WRONG and an outright LIE.
In the corner cobwebs of a 12 x 10 stall are 1200 pound racehorses that are consistently restrained that usually require at least 2 people so that needles can be plunged into their veins, joints, and muscles.
This all takes place within 1 foot of each other.
Then the equipment used such as saddle cloths which jockeys sit on, cough on, sneeze on, and I’ve even seen them spit on them.
These cloths are handled by stable personnel such as grooms.
Then there are the living quarters.
The miserable, horrific close contact living quarters where plenty stay within close contact of each other.
Then there are the vets – germ carriers, as they go from stall to stall, racehorse to racehorse administering mainly needles, but they also touch the racehorses who in turn get touched by racing personnel.
Even under normal circumstances vets carry germs from stall to stall and don’t change their clothes and rarely wash their hands.
It goes on and on.
While every single business in California has shut down due to these necessary close contact business practices why in the hell should horse racing get a pass?
This is unbelievable.
Just as they get a pass on just about everything else they are now intentionally and maliciously putting human lives at risk.
These parasites are hell bent on keeping this killing show going.
Congratulations horse racing you’ve, yet again, shown the world that you are nothing by cruel abusers who care little about racehorse and human lives.
You are a despicable bunch of uncivilized monsters who care only about your $2 bets.
You are putting the entire California residential populations at risk with your obscene business decisions, but you can you expect from a bunch of racehorse abusers and killers?
Gina..I was watching a rebroadcast and some of the horses had some kind of braid on their mane(little tight curls).the jockey was pulling the curls out as they postparaded to the starting gate. Said to myself what a perfect way to have some device while looking innocent. Can you give us insight as to why the horses have these little tight curls on their mane?
It’s strictly superficial to make them look “pretty” or “handsome.”
They put curlers in their mane when it’s wet after their bathe.
So many people touch these horses every day and that can and probably will quickly spread the Covex-19 virus.
Baffert and Casse made it sound like nobody is around each other.
Yet again, another delusional statement designed to mislead the public.
Horse racing is no different than any other business and I’m now watching Gov. Newson on CNN stating that ALL and ANY business should shut down now.
Yet, he evidently has permitted horse racing to continue.
This business is widespread state-sanctioned animal cruelty and this example exemplifies just how high up in government they are connected because no other business in California is getting away with this.
Moreover, this is an unnecessary, non-essential gambling venue so what the hell?
Nancy,
If they use blinkers or a hood on the horses head, it would be a concern that the jockey could hide the small hand-held electrical shocking device inside that at the end of a race before getting caught with it on his person. But you probably knew that already.
They are idiots to try to pass horseracing off as being “above the law” when it comes to the PANDEMIC of the novel Coronavirus known as COVID-19. COVID-19 is a disease; it doesn’t care about under-the-table transfers of money. COVID-19 doesn’t care about the transfer of money in any way, shape, or form. They have been able to get away with horrible abuses for decades and I probably should say centuries. Racing immature and underdeveloped horses is a part of the horrific abuse! That horseracing has a dark underbelly that uses and abuses horses in unthinkable ways to a lot of people is what this blog is all about and shining a light on it; and I am grateful for this blog to educate the uninformed or misled individuals.
They are unscrupulous morons to think they can deceive people about the Coronavirus COVID-19. The Stronach Group can pay their poster boy untold amounts of money and let him cheat and kill horses all day long but COVID-19 does not care.
Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m actually relieved that a few tracks are still racing during this pandemic. Frankly, we’d all be witnessing an (even more horrifying) equine holocaust if all hope for the racing scourge was suddenly removed from the entire industry. And, the horse”men” have admitted as much in their own, not-so-subtle words; they don’t want to feed and care for horses when there’s zero possibility these animals can earn even a little money for them.
We all understand how quickly and frequently the majority of racehorses are unceremoniously dumped now, while racing is still (sadly, somewhat) viable. Imagine the mad rush for the meat wagon most of these “loving” owners would be making if they knew their anti-sport was about to be definitively shut down for the foreseeable future.
Of course, they’d all claim that THEIR horses had been rescued, retrained and adopted by caring, devoted horse people who treat equines the exact opposite way that they themselves do. Such fine citizens, those racing folks.
Point well taken, Kelly. It’s a tragedy for the horses no matter what happens, whether they are being raced or not. I just hope some rescue groups will be able to accommodate more horses in this unprecedented pandemic before the sadistic racing creeps dump their horses into the slaughter pipeline.
Me too, Wanda. But we all know there’s very little in the way of so-called aftercare for the vast majority of racehorses during the BEST of economic times. Throw in a worldwide virus like this — and its devastating financial consequences — and I have very little faith that these monsters in racing won’t literally leave their “beloved family members” to starve and die in their stalls.
Also, Saturday Johnny was vanned off following race 8 at the Santa Anita Death Track today. Thus, your statement, “IT’S A TRAGEDY FOR THE HORSES NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, WHETHER THEY ARE BEING RACED OR NOT,” is worth a reprint.
Kelly, I thought about the horses being starved to death also. I just hope that somehow someone can provide some type of help, especially hay and water at least, to the horses when they are abandoned. Money is going to be tight for so many people since many people have been ordered to close for business to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. More people need to take it seriously regardless of whether or not they are involved in horseracing.
In 1994 I approached Bob Baffert at Danta Anita and asked him if he would support ending races for 2-year-olds since we had learned from the CHRB POST MORTEM STUDIES that “2-year-olds are more likely to suffer broken bones than older horses” and “the majority of horse fatalities are due to broken bones”. Baffert said “I make a lot of money off of racing 2-year-olds why would I want to stop?!”
It’s funny that this was brought up by you today Gail, I was just looking at pictures today of a two year old Malibu Moon gelding who I loved,his name was Ciaran, he was Killed training in NY,under trainer Tom Morley. He was jet black with a red tail,because of the assholes of racing-he couldn’t even see his third birthday. Fuck these moron “racing” assholes. Your story rings totally true Gail,it even Sounds like ole bob.
It’s high time to stop horse racing everywhere, as God judges the world he sees what we do and how we treat the animal kingdom, and the earth, and now space
Sources say that Bob Baffert is working his upper level contacts to get Santa Anita re-opened for horse racing.
His main concern is to keep his racehorses “fit” in condition so that they can race and prepare for the Derby.
In fact, today there’s a big meeting with Santa Anita officials at the L.A Health Department demanding that they re-open Santa Anita for horse racing.
This global crisis brings out the best and worse in people.
First of all, it doesn’t surprise me that BB ‘s main thoughts are training and racing horses not any mention of the health crisis this could cause people and children in the highly dense area where the track is located.
Secondly, they can all talk until they are blue in the face, but horse racing is NOT an essential business.
Not in any way, shape or form just as it is NOT a sport.
Every single non-essential business has shut down to do their part, but horse racing?
Another thing, self-centered BB is expending all this time, energy and probably money just to keep racing going.
Yet, he does little to nothing for racehorses when he’s done maiming them, if they make it out of his race stable alive – priorities are there when they can make money and win, but absent otherwise.
Suddenly horse racing is coming out of the woodwork to keep their killing show going, but are nowhere to be found when it comes to taking care of their disposable gambling chips.
Finally, horse racing shouldn’t operate under normal circumstances because it’s so vile and it most certainly shouldn’t be allowed to continue under the unprecedented circumstances that we are all find ourselves in.
This business is only used to sacrificing the poor racehorses for money and egos rarely sacrificing themselves to take care of them when they are done crippling them.
If they are so concerned about the racehorses than ship them all out to a farm in a grassy paddock never to return to the daily abusive business practices that this vile business deliberately perpetrates on them daily.
Will California’s multiple doping violator “Trainer” with multiple racehorses who died under his care get his way?
Gina,
It is completely understood that Barbaric Buffoon Bob Baffert would be the poster boy for horseracing. It is completely understood that the breeders, owners, the Stronach Group and all other connections (which could include “silent partners”) would want their “designated poster boy” to win the Triple Crown for them. That’s a lot of money in purse money and wagering handle to be won or lost. It is all about the money and when they are done abusively exploiting their particular horses in any given race or series of races and have made as much money as they can off of them, the heathens of horseracing including the poster boy, Barbaric Buffoon, will discard the horses as if they are so much trash. They won’t care what happens to the horses that are used up. They will be looking to exploit their next victims. Just as magazines such as SPORTS AFIELD and FIELD AND STREAM promote the activities of hunting and fishing and the products that are used in those “sports” I believe that horseracing could be legally defined as a “sport” no matter how grotesque, gruesome, sadistic, barbaric, repulsive, revolting or offensive it may be to anyone to call horseracing a sport. It is nauseating to call it a sport so I usually do not even bring it up. Technically, it is referred to as a sport so that is beside the point to me. Hunting wild game animals for Boone and Crockett trophies is a morally depraved activity to me just as horseracing is morally depraved. Horseracing and shooting animals with rifles are blood sports that involve the gruesome killing of animals. I hate what horseracing does to horses!!!!! It’s gruesome!!!
BREAKING NEWS: Bob Baffert’s racehorses have tested positive for a serious drug(s) over the past weekend at Oaklawn Park.
Both racehorses won top stake races giving them the points to enter the Kentucky Derby.
Evidently, BB is furious and released a statement via his attorneys that the Illinois Racing Commission should have kept the positives “confidential” as per the rules.
I suppose that worked for Justify so he just keeps on doing it and with no repercussions why not?
Isn’t it funny that these multiple doing violators who happen to kill a whole lot of racehorses want to dope, cheat, win and think they are above the rules?
Yet, they want everybody else to play by the rules.
One can only imagine the dope that was put into the racehorses who died of snapped-off bones or cardiovascular collapse under the care, custody, and control of BB.
The stewards on the racing commissions and other key personnel have been covering up for BB for years it seems.
Are they finally going to nail Teflon Bob?
It doesn’t become official until the split sample is tested and then the details will be released.
BB would not respond to any inquiries and has not yet requested a split sample.
It’s thought to be NADAL who is on track for the Derby.
It’s Charlatan.
Alan. I read somewhere he was looking to enter Nadal and Charlatan in the derby. Double your chances on drugged up entries.
Gina, Bastard Bob has requested a split sample. Also, Oaklawn Park is in Arkansas, not Illinois. The two horses involved are said to be Charlatan and Gamine.
Drugging horses is part of racing’s culture and that simply will not change. Anyone who thinks it will is simply ignorant or delusional. A racing contact told me quite a few years ago that Bastard Bob would put Draino into a horse’s veins if he thought it would help him win a race. I believed her then and I believe her now.
I have stated, ad nauseum, that you never have to incriminate the racing industry because the industry incriminates itself regularly yet the racing supporters STILL deny, defend and deflect when it comes to the bad actors in racing and then they will attack “us” in a feeble attempt to exonerate themselves for supporting an industry that is filthy from top to bottom. An example…last evening I saw this comment on FB from a racing supporter and I quote, “…these activists will use anything to get their point across. They have no integrity whatsoever.” “We” have no integrity? They are the ones with ZERO integrity because they do not speak for the horses. They speak for the industry and I would venture to guess that they, too, are cheaters in whatever endeavors they participate in. What a bunch of fools they are!
Thank-you for the clarification on the facts Mary – I stand corrected.
The truth is these trainers don’t care what they shove into a racehorse’s veins.
The deleterious effects are not even part of the equation.
It’s a win at all costs mentality and the same goes for the “innocent” owners.
We have now found out that Steve Asmussen’s horse, SHANG, has tested positive for a serious drug.
The infamous Clark Brewster defends him as he always does with the true and tried excuse of “environmental” contamination.
Only this time there’s a creative twist to it: the grooms urinating in the stalls contaminate the racehorses who test positive for the drug Atenolol.
This drug, in simple laymen terms, blocks PAIN so that the racehorse runs.
This drug is supposed to automatically suspend any trainer for 15 days, but not multiple drug violator, racehorse abuser and killer Steve Asmussen.
This business is rife with deep-rooted corruption and I don’t think it takes much of a brain to conclude that Steve Asmussen trains for members of racing commissions and/or the HBPA.
Moreover, what does is tell you about labor conditions in stable areas when a worker can’t even take the time to go to the bathroom that is probably a decrepit one with backed-up tolilets?
It’s probably better for them to urinate in the stall – that’s how bad it is and in any other work setting in this country Steve Asmussen would be up on labor violation charges.
In the midst of this are their voiceless victims and I’m so tired of pro-horse racing people blaming “animal rights activists,” and HRW for their own actions.
They never take responsibility for anything and they muster all their voices and money to defend this abhorrent widespread abuse of racehorses.
Yet, they go silent and are nowhere to be found when their disposable gambling chips are standing at kill auctions begging for their lives.
A bunch of uncivilized, despicable, morally bankrupt parasites.
It’s a beta-blocker Gina. It makes the stupid humans feel like they have an edge. It has zero therapeutic value in a healthy racehorse.
Gina, I read the Paulick Report mainly for the comment section. This morning I clicked on the ASSmussen story and delved into the comments, many of which come from racing supporters. Someone asked how an ASSmussen horse would be exposed to the drug in question. Could the horse have possibly peed on the bedding and then eaten the bedding? Think contamination similar to Bastard Bob and the scopolamine debacle. A poster by the name of Suzanne Powell replied and I quote…
“I questioned this possibility too, so I asked my biochemist husband about it. He said his guess would be that if a person taking beta blockers peed a few gallons into a horse’s bucket and the horse drank every drop, there would be a slight possibility that the horse could test positive for it.”
I’ve been involved with horses for well over five decades and I learned many years ago that horses can be picky eaters. I am not talking about horses that have been neglected and starved. I am talking about horses that are fed the very best grain and hay. My guess is that ASSmussen was involved with giving his horse a drug without a therapeutic benefit “just because”….similar to Bastard Bob giving his horses a thyroid med “just because.” These racing scum bags are always looking for an “edge” because, in their minds, it is ALL about the money.
The excuses these guys come up with are so implausible they insult ones intelligence.
Assmusen and Baffert in the Racing Hall of Fame just tells everything one needs to know about this business – corruption at every level of this sorry game.
The end will always justify the means…
The fact that horses are being doped in the year of 2020 (and COVID-19) by Bob Baffert and Steve Asmussen is nothing new. To hear that a racing commission exposed it and naming the drug is what I find to be something newsworthy. I mean that I would expect them to sweep it under the rug so the public does not hear about it. As far as an attorney that is involved in horseracing, that owns race horses, and actively participates in racing to defend a trainer known to be guilty of repeatedly doping horses in order to race them, and allegedly increase the chances of winning a race, is definitely a CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
Exactly and a “healthy” racehorse as Alan said is nowhere to be found on a racetrack.
They are all mentally, emotionally and/or physically deprived and sick!
Beta Blockers reduce the effects of stress hormones in racehorses by reducing blood pressure and artificially inducing calm.
Since such things as deprivation, forced to train and race while in pain, and being beaten to perform are all significant factors in racehorses Beta Blockers are given.
The only thing that the grooms should be pissing on is Asmussen’s ugly head and the corrupt attorney Brewster’s bloody hands.