This is a real black eye for a sport that was on its heels already.
The ironic thing is that a few picos of painkiller that showed up because they ran too close to the line isn't really something that should get the horse DQed. It's not a banned substance. They just gave it a little closer to race time than they should have. At most it should be a fine and maybe a few days suspension for Baffert. But it's really bad because of this guy's history and how obvious it is that no one has a "Horse of a Lifetime" every other year if you're on the square.
I doubt that an operation like this got sloppy. Baffert and Barnes know what they're doing. They figured they could run right up to the line and if something like this happened, the public would never hear about it. It's pure arrogance.
The real bad shit is what's not showing up on the tests. And guaranteed he got that too.
If they allow the horse to run on Saturday, I'm gonna say you'll get a better price than you should. The wiseguy thought will be that Baffert is gonna be too afraid to do his thing because he is under so much scrutiny.
If you look at the record, every time Baffert has won the Derby the horse has come right back to win the Preakness. (Last year was an exception as the races were out of order.) That isn't an accident. He has the cycle down to a science. And it is science. He knows how to peak these things perfectly over two weeks.
Have you ever seen Marion Jones's calendar? I'm sure she didn't even really know exactly what she was taking. She just knew she didn't get tired on race day. Her trainer/coach/"doctor" was giving it to her on a tight schedule just like Baffert gives it to his horses. They don't know what they're taking either.
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