Bob Baffert has made quite the name for himself in horse racing, with over 3,000 career first place wins and earnings well over $3 million. Now add this to the list -- in the past 12 months, 5 of the horses he trains have tested positive for drugs used to mask injuries and improve performance. Over the course of Baffert's career, 31 of his horses have tested positive for drugging.
Sign the petition and demand that the National Thoroughbred Racing Association ban Bob Baffert from ever training another horse!
When horses are drugged to perform, tragedy often strikes. Often, they are pumped full of these drugs in order to make them run with injuries they have already sustained and desperately need to recover from. Overuse of corticosteroids or painkillers can mask serious ailments, leading to painful, disastrous breakdowns on the track. One broken bone or a ruptured tendon can be deadly to a horse, since their anatomy means they cannot recover and they have to be put down. Hundreds of Thoroughbreds are killed in this way every year in racing.
The horse racing community in the United States have made some changes to protect the safety of the horses involved, but the truth is it has never been enough. When animals' bodies are put directly on the line in order for human beings to make a profit, there will always be potential for cruelty, abuse, and neglect. The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act, for example, was introduced just months ago in December 2020 in order to protect horses at a federal level, from anti-doping measures to racetrack safety standards. But now, just five months later in May of 2021, one of the biggest names in horse racing -- Bob Baffert -- is being investigated for doping three of his horses, one with a "banned corticosteroid" and the other two with lidocaine, a powerful painkiller.
Bob Baffert's sizable influence and earnings should not put him above the law. He claims to love horse racing and the animals he trains, but the truth is he is trying to race lame horses and put their lives at risk to win some glory and cash. He is totally unworthy of his position, and should be removed from horse racing entirely.
Tell the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to protect horses, not abusers and their cashflow -- expel Bob Baffert from the racing world entirely!
