Statement on Bob Baffert's Admission of Utilizing Ointment Containing Drug Found in Kentucky Derby Winner's Blood Test
"Bob Baffert has conceded that a veterinarian under his charge applied the anti-fungal ointment Otomax to Medina Spirit just before the Kentucky Derby. In response to this admission, Churchill Downs should drop the hammer on Baffert and indefinitely suspend him from racing at its tracks," said Marty Irby executive director at Animal Wellness Action who was recently honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, II for his work to protect horses.
“Given his long pattern of doping violations, Baffert should be extraordinarily alert to all substances that go into horses under his control. His horses should get water, hay, and oats in the run-up to race day and nothing else. It’s time for the horse racing industry to have a zero-tolerance policy for drugging violations and put the principles of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in play right away. It’s time to put the welfare of the horse at the center of the enterprise.”
Animal Wellness Action (Action) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.
Marty Irby
Animal Wellness Action
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WATCH NOW: WHAS 11 Kentucky Story on Bob Baffert's Derby Day Drug Test at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMnPi6ZCLhY
1 https://www.foxnews.com/sports/bob-baffert-under-fire-another-horse-positive-test
2 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/sports/horse-racing/bob-baffert-kentucky-derby-medina-spirit-drug-test.html
3 https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110418/witnesses/HHRG-116-IF17-Wstate-IrbyM-20200128.pdf