Couch: Racing's Problem Isn't The Horse, It's the Horse's Ass

What happens if Medina Spirit comes down the stretch in the lead at the Preakness Saturday, goes all-out, thanks to not feeling the pain in his legs and then. . .snaps his leg? Breaks down?

What happens if Medina Spirit dies Saturday?

Do you realize how close this entire sport of horse racing is to dying, too?

It’s so galling to hear Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, horse racing’s Big Dope, say he’s standing up for the horse. He doesn’t seem to realize that no one is accusing Medina Spirit of doing anything wrong.

The other horses aren’t smirking as Medina Spirit walks past, thinking, “What a cheat. He is ruining things for the rest of us.’’

Medina Spirit failed a doping test after winning the Kentucky Derby, but no one needs to stand up for the horse’s integrity.

“Medina Spirit is a deserved champion,’’ Baffert said after changing course and admitting that he had administered an ointment with a banned performance-enhancing steroid. Baffert said he didn’t know the substance was in the ointment he was using for Medina Spirit’s dermatitis. He said the steroid didn’t help the horse win.

“I will continue to fight for him,’’ Baffert said.

For him? Baffert is fighting for Medina Spirit?

And if you don’t know who Baffert is, he’s the Michael Jordan of horse racing, The Tom Brady. The Tiger Woods. The Serena Williams.

And Medina Spirit is Baffert’s victim. Horses are the victims of this entire thoroughbred industry. Baffert is the face and voice of the industry. And the industry is so unable to stop itself or fight off its own inhumane greed that it even asked Congress for help.

Someone actually does have to stand up for the horses and fight for them. So last year, Congress passed the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act, making doping and safety rules uniform across the country and placing them under the control of the US Anti-Doping Agency. The act won’t be fully in place until 2022.

Hundreds of horses in the U.S. break down during races every year, according to Horsenation.com. It happens roughly 10 times a week, according to The Jockey Club’s injury database, and that doesn’t count the horses that die during training. At one point, 23 horses died over three months at Santa Anita outside of L.A.

“People will come to, hopefully, trust (the sport) again and have confidence in it,’’ Arthur Hancock, a leader in the safety act, told Horsenation. “We’re going to clean out the drugs and thugs.’’

People don’t seem to realize what a villain Baffert is. In just over a year, five of his horses have failed doping and steroid tests. His excuses are comical: With one horse, he claimed that a stable worker peed in the hay and the horse then ate the hay, ingesting a banned substance.

It’s outrageous that the Preakness is going to let Medina Spirit run this Saturday. The horse’s health and safety have been compromised by Baffert at a time when monstrous trainers and breeders have compromised an entire species.

Breeders keep matching horses with bigger and bigger muscles on lighter and lighter ankles and skeletal structures. You might notice that horses don’t have long race careers anymore. They win big and have their breeding rights sold before they break down.

Medina Spirit is Baffert’s victim. Horses are the victims of this entire thoroughbred industry. Baffert is the industry’s leader.

Medina Spirit isn’t the Lance Armstrong of horse racing. Bob Baffert is. The difference is that Armstrong put himself at risk. Baffert puts horses at risk.

Baffert has now been banned from Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. And while Medina Spirit was found to have failed the doping test after the Derby, a second sample has to confirm that finding. After that, Baffert can appeal and drag this thing out way past the time when Medina Spirit might win the Triple Crown.

That’s almost exactly the way it played out when Baffert-trained Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018.

Medina Spirit was nearly banned from the Preakness, but Baffert, according to The New York Times, threatened to seek a temporary restraining order. So after negotiations, the horse was allowed to race with additional testing.

Baffert has been pedaling and backpedaling all week. First, he said the horse never had Betamethasone in his system. Then, Baffert blamed sabotage, then a plot against him from cancel culture.

Now, he admits that he used the ointment, but says there was such a small amount of the steroid in the horse’s blood that it wouldn’t have helped him win.

There is no way of knowing that. It’s just another tapdance. 

Let’s just hope Medina Spirit can survive the Big Dope.