Bob Baffert can’t stop poking the bear.
Already among the most polarizing figures in the sport of horse racing, Baffert got his comeuppance when 2021 Kentucky Derby champ Medina Spirit, a Baffert trainee, was stripped of his first-place finish in February 2022 due to the use of a banned substance. Baffert was suspended from running horses at Churchill Downs for two years, a period in which he dutifully transferred his Derby contenders to other trainers (mainly Tim Yakteen) well before the race so that the horses’ owners might keep their Derby dreams alive.
With his suspension about to lift, Baffert again proclaimed his innocence, which irked Churchill Downs to the point where they extended the penalty through at least this year’s race, which will be run on May 4.
