I Am So Sick of Bob Baffert

Horse racing is one of my favorite sports and it can be impossible to defend.

My wife, like millions of others across the country, loathes horse racing. They only see and hear the bad news, like horses breaking down at Santa Anita or drug cheats like Bob Baffert. They liken it to animal abuse and, if that’s all you see, it’s hard to argue.

For me as a fan of the sport, I view it differently. I see horses that love run and the vast majority of humans around them that care for their horses. I see the trainers and jockeys and grooms who cry tears of joy when they win a big race — or even a not so big race. I think about the races that don’t get aired on NBC, and what they can mean for their lives, and their horses.

As I write this, there is a very, very dark cloud hanging over the sport and his name is Bob Baffert.

You know Baffert as the most successful horse racing trainer in the past 25 years, if not ever. Or you know him as one of the sport’s worst cheats. For the past several years, his horses have constantly failed drug tests, and he keeps getting away with it.

In 2018, his future Triple Crown winner Justify failed a drug test after the Santa Anita Derby, before the Kentucky Derby. The California horse racing officials kept it under wraps, and eventually led Baffert off as he used a…