No, but I'll check it out.

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I came to it by the Sports Illustrated top 100 sports book list, so just not me being a dumb fuck.

You should literally check it out from Harold Washington Library. I was probably the last guy to check it out, 2010.

No degrees of separation. Spooky.

JORR, you've talked before about Baffert doping horses. Justify is such an unusually large horse that it makes me suspicious of how he got that big.

Could it be that Justify has been given a horse version of HGH?

When do they ever drug-test horses? If they do, it's probably not for something like that.

I think there is a lot of shadiness to Baffert we don't know about.

I believe this is exactly what is going on with Baffert's horses, that he has been injecting them with equine growth hormone to boost performance. According to this medical abstract, there is no reliable method of identification, so he would be able to get away with it.

"Equine growth hormone (eGH) has been available since 1998 as an approved drug (EquiGen-5, Bresagen) containing recombinant eGH (reGH). It is suspected of being illegally administered to racehorses in order to improve physical performance and to speed-up wound healing. Thus it may be considered a doping agent which would require a sensitive and reliable method of identification and confirmation in order to regulate its use in racehorses."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18816143

I don't think that's the case. Baffert didn't get the horse until he was full grown. He's undoubtedly using something that carries oxygen in the blood. These horses find another gear and they don't get tired. The Arrogate race in Dubai is just egregious. And Baffert knows it too. He was all sheepish in the winner's circle. As if he realized he had gone too far. For those who know, he embarrassed the sport. But for the casual observers, they just think he's great.

Plus he's full of shit. Just today he told Steve Andersen of the Daily Racing Form about plans for Justify and then denied he ever said what he said. He must have talked to Walden who told him no decision has been made regarding more racing, so then he lied about his statements which made Andersen look like an asshole. Baffert is just a bad guy.

One Post asked above about the results if Justify weren't on whatever he's on and I couldn't really answer definitively. But one thing I'm 100% certain about is that if Arrogate and California Chrome went in the gate on nothing but hay, oats, and water, it's no contest. Chrome wins by open lengths.

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JORR -

I was reading the SI article on Justify. They talked about one of Baffert's best practice riders.

How come those practice riders aren't jockeys?

What makes a good practice rider? Do they keep the horse safe? Do a good job of communicating to the trainer how the horse is behaving or what they need to do in the training schedule? etc.?

What type of bucks would one of those training/practice riders make in a year?

Many of them are jockeys. Some guys will ingratiate themselves with the trainer of a big stable by working his stock in the morning. And particularly in the last work(s) prior to a big race the jock that is going to ride him will often come in to work the horse. A lot of stable riders probably can't make the weight to be a race rider.

The main thing is to give the horse the type of trip the trainer is looking for. I've seen trainers go apeshit because a horse was up on it and worked much faster than the trainer wanted. Also, being able to communicate with the trainer about the horse is critical. It's a big edge for that Brisset guy who trains Quip to be able to work his own. That's something Dale Romans can't do. Seriously though, Romans's girlfriend Tammy Fox is his right-hand and she works the horses in the morning.

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Hey, we aren't here for jokes, we're here to learn about the horse game.

No idea on what those practice riders make in a year?

In the SI article (I left it in a cab this morning so I can't reference it), said that Baffert flew this practice rider in to ride Justify before the Belmont, so it was NOT the jockey that rode Justify, and clearly Baffert wanted that dude. So is that just a dude that Baffert trusts (obviously) but is he looking for information from that dude, or just wants to protect the horse?

Also, how can a practice rider not be able to maintain the pace that the trainer wants? I mean there is only one horse on the practice track so it isn't like the horse will be trying to run pace with another horse in the field or something. Seems like it should be pretty easy for an experienced practice rider to keep the desired pace in a practice? Am I missing something here?

I think he flew in Martin Garcia, didn't he? Garcia is a jockey. He and Baffert have an up and down relationship. Baffert fires him all the time and then takes him back.

A guy (or girl) who is strictly a morning rider isn't making big bucks. But for a guy like Garcia, maybe he doesn't even get paid for going out to work Justify and Abel Tasman. His reward might be grabbing first call on Baffert's best two year old.

It's not always easy controlling a half-ton animal. I don't know that much about thoroughbred rigging, but with harness horses, some of them pull so much there are various types of bits to get more control. I owned a real top filly and we were going for $250,000 in Lexington and she was much the best in the race. I think she was 1/5 or even 1/9. Coming down the stretch she jumped over leaves that were blowing across in front of her. After that we put a small shadow roll on her. It's not ideal to use a shadow roll though because the horse will keep trying to look over it and it's like riding in a car with a guy who keeps taking his foot on and off the brake. Generally speaking, the less equipment the better.

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Got the Chicago Handicap coming up at Arlington.

It's between Union Strike and Hotshot Anna for me.

I think Babybluesdancing has a chance.

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There you go!

Super fast!

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Hotshot Anna set a new Arlington track record for the distance at 1:20.93.

The program got it right.

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Everyone reveres the guy, but he is just a doper and a cheat. In other words, the Devil.

The casual fan that only pays attention to the Triple Crown and maybe the Breeder's Cup thinks this guy is great. If you're a hardcore follower of the sport you know he's phony. Everybody knows it.

But it's no different than baseball or cycling. Everybody is doing something but we reserve our hatred for the guys that really jam in it our faces. Somehow Baffert has gotten a pass. There are certainly guys that are cheating on his level. They just aren't winning classic races. Once a guy is on NBC holding the Kentucky Derby trophy it's hard for the racing establishment to be negative about him. They're terrified.

Guaranteed the sport is going to close ranks around him. It's happening already. You'll hear this bullshit that it was contamination from jimson weed in the horse's feed. There's no way with as high as he tested that it came from eating hay.

I was reading racing Twitter last night and it reminded me of when Canseco told the truth. I couldn't believe there were actually people who thought that Mark and Sammy were on the level. I thought that home run chase was the phoniest thing I ever witnessed. But people want to believe. And now it's like they suddenly found out there is no Santa Claus.

The sport was so desperate for a Triple Crown winner they looked the other way as this guy did his thing. And then one wasn't enough. He had to jam two down our throats. As far as I'm concerned the last legit Triple Crown winner is Seattle Slew.

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