Sunday at Santa Anita marked the return to training duties for embattled Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert following a 90-day suspension for a medication violation detected in a post-race test on 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1) first-place finisher Medina Spirit, Daily Racing Form reports.
Baffert's suspension started April 4. Owner Amr F. Zedan's Medina Spirit, who tested positive for betamethasone after the Derby, was disqualified from his win and his share of the purse money was redistributed, with second-place finisher Mandaloun declared the official winner..
Although Baffert fought the suspension with Kentucky racing regulators as well as in court, the Kentucky Court of Appeals rejected his motion for emergency relief from the ban, which ended Saturday.
Baffert oversaw morning training at the Arcadia, Calif., track on Sunday. Several runners were preparing for racing at Del Mar, which starts July 22.
“I'm just trying to get caught up,” he told the Form toward the end of the day's training session. “It feels like the first day of school.
“I've got a lot of 2-year-olds here,” he added.
During Baffert's suspension, his stable raced primarily for trainer Sean McCarthy, while some were trained by Tim Yakteen, a former assistant to Baffert. McCarthy's wife, Kim, is Baffert's office manager.
“They did a good job,” Baffert said of Yakteen and McCarthy. “I'm proud of them. They kept it together.”
Despite the end of the suspension, Baffert is still banned from racing at the New York Racing Association tracks of Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course, through January 25, 2023. On another front, Churchill Downs Inc. has banned him from having runners at its tracks through the end of the 2023 spring-summer meet at Churchill Downs. He is fighting that in federal court.
To read the full story at Daily Racing Form, click here.
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