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Updated: July 15, 2020 at 5:37 pm
Bob Baffert The | Horse photos
By Brian DiDonato
Hall of Fame member Bob Baffert has been suspended for 15 days for previously announced lidocaine positives found in samples from two runners after the race on the May 2 card for Oaklawn Park division winner GI Arkansas Derby Charlatan (Speightstown) and grant winner Gamine (In mischief). The Oaklawn Park Board of Trustees has also disqualified both horses from their victories and has ordered that the funds from the portfolios be redistributed in July 14 resolutions and made public on Wednesday.
News of the positives first appeared in late May, and it was revealed last week that split samples taken from both runners confirmed the results of the original test. In Baffert’s defense, attorney Craig Robertson said an employee was believed to have accidentally exposed the two horses to lidocaine while wearing a Salonpas patch to relieve pain. Robertson also noted that small amounts of the drug would have had no impact on the performance of the two horses. Lidocaine is a class 2 substance.
The ruling requires Baffert to be suspended from August 1 to August 15, but the conditioner told the TDN who plans to appeal: “We are definitely going to appeal. We are so disappointed I thought we did a great job answering this and showing how innocent I am. I understand that there is a coach responsibility rule, but the levels, especially with Charlatan, were very low. We showed them the science that showed it wouldn’t have affected the horses at all. “
With Charlatan’s disqualification from last place in his Arkansas Derby division, Basin (Liam’s Map), most recently 10th in Saturday’s GII Toyota Blue Grass, he now receives 100 qualification points for the Kentucky GI Derby, with Gouverneur Morris (Constitution) winning 40; Winning Print (Paynter) 20; and Anneau d’Or (Medaglia d’Oro) 10. Basin connections had previously announced that it had been taken into consideration by the Derby in favor of shortening the distance in the future.
Meanwhile, Charlatan was sidelined in June due to an ankle problem. Baffert also won the other Arkansas Derby division with Nadal (Guilt), who later retired due to a condylar fracture. The Baffert Authentic Apprentice (Into Mischief), owned by a group that overlaps with Charlatan’s owning group, is 4-5 in the morning line for Saturday’s GI Haskell S. in Monmouth.
The victory in Gamine’s neck on that May 2 grant came to Speech (Mr Speaker), a decisive winner of the GI Ashland S. in Keeneland last Saturday. Gamine would take the GI Acorn S. from Belmont on June 20 by 18 3/4 long, earning a 110 Beyer speed figure in one of the most dominating performances of a horse in 2020.
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This story was published in Top News and tagged Arkansas, Bob Baffert, Charlatan, Gamine, Lidocaine, Oaklawn Park.
