LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As dusk set over the picturesque twin spiers of Churchill Downs sometime Saturday evening here, more than 100,000 people left the grounds in varying states of inebriation and sweating. It will be a one-time event and a return to real life. Fantasy worlds are becoming larger and more luxurious year by year, and the demand for them is increasing.
The party is over. This will be the 150th Kentucky Derby. And the two-minute horse race that they would watch and bet millions of dollars on at will was, in many ways, entirely incidental to the experience they had come to participate in.
That's how it works here every year. Because the derby is a timeless American tradition that has only gotten bigger and bigger, no matter the circumstances surrounding it, from wars to economic depressions and, perhaps most surprisingly, economic booms and economic booms. This is because it appears that there is. The decline of thoroughbred horse racing itself as a significant presence in the nation's sporting world.
“This horse is the one mainstay we really believe in,” said two-time Derby winner Todd Pletcher, who trains Fierceness, who is a likely Saturday contender.
But this celebration of everything about the Derby since its first run in 1875 comes amid crosscurrents that illustrate the complex landscape in which horse racing finds itself in 2024. It is an alarming lack of uniformity and organization in horse racing operations nationwide. The desperate fear that a horse might die on racing's most prominent day, the endless controversy over the role of Churchill Downs, a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of about $9.5 billion and the Derby's hardline gatekeeper.
But underpinning it all are two undeniable facts. The first Saturday in May is the only day anyone pays attention to, and the Kentucky Derby is the race everyone involved in horse racing wants to win.
Churchill Downs aggressively defends lucrative Derby
Has the Derby's excellence had a positive impact on the sport as a whole? It depends on who you ask, but many industry insiders point to the fact that Churchill abandoned the horse racing business at tracks he owned, such as the Calder in Miami (now a casino). right. He sold Los Angeles' Hollywood Park in a deal that ultimately doomed his horse racing operation (now the site of SoFi Stadium), as part of a deal to sell the land to the Chicago Bears. Horse racing at Arlington Park ended as a result.
Meanwhile, as part of the 150th Derby celebration, Churchill Downs this week unveiled a new $200 million exhibition paddock. Its main purpose is to have more upscale seating and dining areas for Derby week, which will likely fetch upwards of $7,000 per person over the weekend.
“Right now, horse racing is becoming less important as a sport. If you look back 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, horse racing was in decline,” said the owner, who is currently based in Ocala, Florida. Craig Vernick, who runs Glen Hill, said: The farm his grandfather established as a horse racing and breeding business in his 1960s. “But the Derby itself has really been able to buck that trend. This is a big, big event. Churchill, they've done a great job for their business and their shareholders. It's incredible for Churchill. And that's the only horse race they pay attention to: the Derby.
“They're investing in areas where casinos can be, and they have a great business model to make money. But it hasn't been beneficial to the sport as a whole. And I don't think that was their intention. Their goal is to make money, and that's what they do.”
Churchill's annual visit to protect this unique money-printing asset is at the heart of this year. Bete noir: Trainer Bob Baffert, a six-time Derby winner, and his horse named Moose, who missed the race for the third year in a row, would have been a favorite had he been allowed to run on Saturday.
The controversy between Churchill and Baffert began on May 1, 2021, in what would have been Baffert's Derby record-setting seventh win, when 12-1 Medina Spirit crossed the line by a half-length over 27-1 Mandalon. It emanates from the beginning.
A week later, Medina Spirit tested positive for a small amount of the corticosteroid betamethasone and was ultimately disqualified. Mr. Baffert claimed that his positive test was the result of an antifungal ointment used to treat a skin condition, and that he had no knowledge that it contained a prohibited substance. On June 2, 2021, Churchill cited five drug violations in the previous year related to Baffert's horses and banned Baffert from entering racetracks owned by the company for two years. was punished.
Baffert said positive tests are inadvertent and usually caused by environmental contamination or, in some cases in 2020, lidocaine patches applied to horses by one of his staff members. He has long maintained that he moved on to horses. return. Mr. Baffert vehemently denied ever doping his horses.
Nevertheless, Mr. Baffert's prominence within the sport and the industry-wide recognition that horse racing urgently needs to clean up its practices after years of notoriety surrounding doping scandals and horse deaths. In view of this, Mr Churchill's harsh suspension was widely seen as appropriate. The matter was also upheld as legal by a U.S. District Court judge in February 2023, ending the matter with Baffert's return to Derby in 2024.
Bob Baffert 'served his sentence and it was extended'
However, on July 3 of last year, Churchill announced that Baffert's suspension would be extended for at least another year, stating that “a trainer who refuses to accept responsibility for failing multiple drug tests in his most high-profile races will be “We cannot trust that we will be able to avoid wrongdoing.” This is likely a reference to the fact that Baffert and the owner of Medina Spirit continue to seek legal action to have the disqualification reversed, and Baffert continues to maintain his innocence in media appearances.
If the original suspension was justified, adding another year without any new violations was seen by some in the industry as unchecked bullying. The incident also comes on the heels of a disastrous Derby week in 2023 in which two horses from trainer Saffie Joseph's stable died, with Churchill immediately suspending them and The runner Sir Miles was removed from the Derby.
Two months later, an autopsy showed nothing conclusive about the incident, so Joseph was acquitted and reinstated. However, Baffert remained suspended.
“They've made him the poster boy for what's going on,” said four-time Derby-winning trainer D. Wayne Lucas. It all got out of hand.
“My personal feeling is that management didn't want it to be a topic of discussion for the 150th Derby. If Bob had run, he would have been a big topic of conversation, and they I think he felt that way, because he really should have been here. “
The development of the Baffert-Churchill controversy once again spotlights the patchwork and somewhat arbitrary nature of the rules surrounding horse racing compared to other sports.
For example, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver added an additional 15 game suspension to the standard 25-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs because the player did not show sufficient contrition in media interviews. Imagine if a punishment were imposed. You can't imagine it because it won't happen. In professional sports, all these issues are collectively bargained and standardized for the benefit of the sport. In horse racing, the motivation is completely different.
“Churchill Downs is a multi-billion dollar brand, and we want to do everything we can to protect our brand,” said the longtime Thoroughbred owner and horse athlete, a leading Kentucky ad. said Kip Cornett, who founded one of the agencies. “And they have shareholders that are responsive to that, whether it's Bob Baffert or a trainer that they feel is detracting from the brand value. So I think the brand value that they have is “We understand their desire to protect their brand as much as possible. It's one of the strongest brands in sports.”
But what's confusing is that the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) was established in 2020 as essentially the regulatory body that establishes national standards on a variety of safety issues, from racetrack conditions to injury reporting to horse racing bans. It was enacted by Congress. It's the doping and medication rules, not the state-by-state jurisdictions that have so erratically regulated the sport.
As of May last year, HISA had a fully operational anti-doping program, and despite some criticism and difficulties, it was largely a welcome development in a beleaguered industry.
In the context of standardization as a national goal enshrined in federal law, it may seem strange that Baffert and owner Amr Zedan are currently on the sidelines preparing the Mus for the Preakness. Taking your own horse to the Derby per Churchill Downs regulations.
In a last-ditch legal effort to get Moose eligible for the Derby, Zedan and attorney John Quinn argue that the extended suspension is nothing more than a personal vendetta against Baffert by Churchill CEO Bill Carstanjen. did. And in a phone interview last week, Quinn said Zedan has invested a lot of money in yearlings and 2-year-olds over the past two years and expects Baffert will be allowed back in once his suspension ends. said.
In the end, legal efforts to get Moot into the starting gate failed. Churchill again prevailed in Kentucky court, despite a request from Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry for both sides to work together and reach an agreement to end the Baffert conflict.
Mr Quinn said Mr Zedan had a “very enjoyable” phone conversation with Churchill's chairman of the board, Alex Rankin, after the decision was made. However, it's unclear what happens from here.
“He would want to put his horse in that race.”
The 150th Derby will be played Saturday without Zedan, Baffert and Mutt. And perhaps more importantly, the party continues.
“We believe (they) made an arbitrary and unfair decision to keep one of the best horses from the most important race in the country, and we believe that as a result of this experience, I look forward to the people at Churchill Downs putting themselves on top of the world.''This is bad for horse racing, but it's good for horse racing, and we will be more careful in the future.'' I want you to recognize that,” Quinn said.
This is the second time Darby's heartbreak has ended on the wrong end for Los Angeles-born Saudi investor Zedan.
Zedan was officially removed from the record books as a Derby winner after he and Baffert decided in January to drop their final appeal to restore Medina Spirit's victory. And now he won't even get a chance against Moose, who had a dominant win in the Arkansas Derby and looked like a real favorite for Rose.
But the charm of the Kentucky Derby and its paradoxical role in this troubled sport remains as deep as the race itself. Given years of bitterness and legal battles with Churchill Downs, will Zedan try again for the 151st Derby?
“Mr. Zedan's goal has always been, and continues to be, to have the best horses, including those who qualify, race in the No. 1 horse race in the country,” Quinn said. “That's the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. That was his intention this year, and I'm sure that's his intention next year as well. He'd want to put a horse in that race.”
