I love horses ... in fact, I have raised 3 Thoroughbred foals (racing stock, but not for racing) from a TB mare I owned. After decades of watching the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, & Belmont Stakes, even gathering with friends for a race day party or two in the past, I don’t watch any more. Frankly, the 2019 KD pretty much was the last straw that ‘killed’ it for me. Secretariat was the high point of racing for me.
Baffert KNOWS the penalty for failed drug tests & I can’t believe he’d be stupid enough to risk a disqualification on a race like the KD so I don’t think this is coming from him personally; however, anyone with access to his horses could have slipped them something (and I’m sure he has security but they can’t analyze everything a horse eats/drinks, etc.) - lots of motives for doing it out there, aside from trying to give the horse a winning edge. A KD disqualification would be quite the ‘black eye’ for Baffert & that may be the intent ... who knows. I hope he does “get to the bottom of it”, but frankly, good luck with that.
One of the handlers could have been payed off big time to drug the horse.
I can think of one man who’d LOVE to see Baffert taken down a notch: Jason Service... trainer of Maximum Security.