I’m nothing close to an expert in horse racing. I’m even further from an expert in cycling. I’m just a general sports fan that watches the big races – Triple Crown races and Santa Anita for horse racing, the Tour de France for cycling. Forgive me if I miss a lot of the details in this story about Medina Spirit testing positive for doping, but from what I’m seeing right now it looks like this is the exact same story that brought down Lance Armstrong in cycling.
For the layman fan, there aren’t a lot of huge names in horse racing. Sure there’s the famous horses – Seabuiscuit, War Admiral, Secretariat, American Pharaoh. But as far as people go, there’s no name bigger than Bob Baffert. His horses constantly show as the favorite in all the biggest races. He’s guaranteed to be shown by NBC cameras a half dozen or more times in pre-race coverage of the Kentucky Derby. It’s not unwarranted though, he’s earned his fame. Since he first won the Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm he’s repeated that feat another six times. He’s one of 13 trainers to have won the Triple Crown, and only one of two to have won it twice. Since he first made the Kentucky Derby in 1996 he’s entered 38 horses, while only missing out on the derby 4 of the next 25 times. He’s earned the fame and respect he’s received.
In a similar light Lance Armstrong, before his doping had a similar rise. From the first time he won the Tour de France, he dominated that race. In the 14 times he entered the race he won the yellow jacket 7 times. Ironically the same number of Kentucky Derby wins for Bob Baffert. In the height of his career he was seen to the casual American fan as the face of cycling – and likely the only person they could name in the sport.
Even though this is the first time a Baffert horse failing a drug test has made national news, it’s not the first time. It’s not even the first time in the past year. In 2020 alone, Baffert has had to answer for five failed drug tests. Though he was cleared of all those, and the positive test was attributed to the feed that was shipped to the track. It didn’t excuse Baffert from getting a 15 day suspension from Oaklawn Park. Right now he faces an indefinite suspension from Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby.
Since the crackdown of performance enhancing drugs in sports over the past 25 years, the excuses for a positive test all sound the same. The first excuse is a straight denial. The second excuse is to blame some low level member of the team – this was consistently blamed on massage therapists in cycling and track and field. In horse racing, it’s to blame the feed or someone working in the stall. Years of these kind of excuses have lead fans to be jaded and untrusting of any of these athletes or trainers. When it came to Lance Armstrong he faced these accusations as early as 1999 and was constantly hounded by the press about doping rumors throughout his string of Tour de France successes. It took until he was on the cusp of a historic run of Tour successes for American media to catch on though. The first major accusation came in 2004 – after he already won 4 straight yellow jackets. Baffert’s adversity has come after he already achieved legendary status – winning the last two Triple Crowns.
It’s still early in the Bob Baffert investigation. He may end up with a similar result to Justin Gatlin in track and field. A tormented legacy, but given the grace of the game where he can still compete and his legacy doesn’t end in tatters like Armstrong. If that’s the case though, the fans will think everything he’s accomplished is because of doping. His legacy will be tarnished, but in tact. If this investigation finds that Baffert has been running a doping scheme similar to the legendary status that Armstrong ran, along with his teams, his reputation will be destroyed. There won’t be another Kentucky Derby where they show him in a glowing light. He’ll be banished from the sport and an asterisk will be put along side his Derby wins and especially along side his Triple Crown wins. If anything the last 25 years of doping investigations has taught us though, the cloud will never go away. Only time will tell how it pans out, but I won’t be surprised if this turns out the same for Bob Baffert as it did for Lance Armstrong.