To answer your questions about why I don't like or trust Baffert, I lived in the Los Angeles area for 40 years before moving away three years ago. During that time I was involved in thoroughbred racing and know what the man is like. And I became aware of problems of trainers doping horses. Baffert was caught giving all of the horses in his barn the drug thyroxine, a thyroid drug. He never even checked to see if any of his horses had thyroid problems. Around 2013, seven of his horsed dropped dead of unexplained causes during a brief period of a few months.
Wow, hadn’t heard that before.
More on the story here...
Oh wow.
While not good, apparently all sorts of trainers and jockeys used tricks that were not yet banned, until they were. But 2013 is pretty recent. Sorry to hear the horses passed from this. I abhor cheating.