Vine See You Again Stub Toe
Bob Baffert was warned.
His friend, rival and former Kentucky Equus caballus Racing Commission member D. Wayne Lukas thought Baffert was battling the odds "from the beginning" in fighting his suspensions from the country commission and the dwelling house of the Kentucky Derby.
"I told him, 'Any other state, like Arkansas,'" Lukas said Sabbatum morning at Churchill Downs. "But hither, with the grandest of all (races) in the state of Kentucky, with the whole globe watching, I thought he'd have a hell of a fourth dimension overturning whatsoever of those judges.
"And they all fabricated that same annotate: 'The flagship manufacture of the state.' Every one of them said that. That'due south where their eye was."
A shared Kentucky Derby history
With 10 Derby victories between them and an 11th lost to Medina Spirit'due south 2022 disqualification, the ii Hall of Fame trainers rank one-2 among living trainers in almost Derby wins. But both were on the exterior looking in at the run for the roses as of Saturday, with Baffert serving the 20th day of a 90-day KHRC suspension and the 86-year-old Lukas in need of scratches to get his Ethereal Road into the 20-horse field.
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The two men have served consecutive terms every bit the confront of thoroughbred racing and take become about synonymous with the first Saturday in May. Over the last 41 years, only iv Derbies have been run without one or both of them saddling starters. Baffert has won the race 6 times, Lukas 4.
"You lot guys (reporters) could always go hither or there and get somebody stirred upwards," Lukas said.
Though Baffert's customary Barn 33 has been reassigned this jump, and the plaques commemorating his many triumphs temporarily removed, his impact on Derby 148 is undeniable. Messier and Taiba, two erstwhile Baffert trainees entrusted to his former assistant, Tim Yakteen, are both seen as strong contenders that nevertheless deport Baffert's stamp.
"I remember no matter how those horses run, they'll be Bob's," Lukas said. "Now, the general public, a lot of them, won't know the divergence. (But) All the equus caballus people will know they are Bob's.
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"I think he outlined it very carefully (to Yakteen). I think they had a crash course, for certain. And so I retrieve (Yakteen) will follow, I'll bet you, to the letter of the alphabet. He'd be crazy not to. You lot're talking near a guy who came in here every year with extreme power. I would guess that (Yakteen) is not going to make any decisions."
Yet when Lukas asked if he would "coach from the sofa," Baffert told him he would do every bit he had been instructed and stay out of Yakteen's style.
"I said, 'Well I think that's admirable because there'south a certain grouping of people that would like to see you lot mess upward over again, you know, and stub your toe perchance past being involved more than you lot should,'" Lukas recalled. "He said he's going to walk away for 90 days and selection up the slack (then). I think he will considering he tried everything to stay in the buggy and he couldn't.''
Lukas on Baffert suspension
Lukas said Baffert would take been improve served to accept his suspensions rather than prolonging the process through continuances and litigation. Had Baffert agreed to the Kentucky' stewards original hearing date of Oct. 6, a 90-day interruption could have been completed earlier any of the major Derby prep races. That wouldn't have enabled Baffert to circumvent Churchill Downs' ii-year suspension, and information technology could have price him Corniche'southward victory in the Breeders' Loving cup Juvenile, simply it could take kept him in play for the 2022 Preakness and, pending an anticipated penalty from the New York Racing Clan, perhaps the Belmont Stakes.
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"I thought the whole matter should accept lasted three days," Lukas said. "We didn't need to bring it to the public, which is uninformed, for viii months. That was the thing that I think was negative nearly it. The end event was the same anyhow. You lot knew that Churchill was not going to make a ruling of that magnitude and not follow through on it.
"I knew he was in problem. The lawyers kept telling him he had a swell gamble here, great chance there. But I was a commissioner here and on the commission you've got five or half dozen guys that are very, very knowledgeable, including one veterinarian. And and so y'all've got a lot of them who don't empathise any more than the guy selling cars downtown."
Bob Baffert was warned. He chose to fight a losing battle.
Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/horses/horse-racing/2022/04/24/bob-baffert-d-wayne-lukas-kentucky-derby-horse-trainer-suspension/7423134001/
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