Re: Link to Christian Hellmers interview with Baffert (935 Views)
Posted by:
PlanetHellmers (IP Logged)
Date: October 09, 2018 06:23PM
Gentlemen,
I appreciate everyone's responses here as this is a touchy controversial subject. I think it's important to ask these types of questions as an industry, similar to every other sport- NFL, Olympic swimming/cycling, MLB, etc. Yes, I can see how people might interpret my respectful style as more gentle, but when you ask hard questions to someone at a high level, you gotta give them respect or the interview will be over and unpublished. I was not starstruck rather just stating the facts that he is unarguably one of the best to ever train hand down, regardless of how many horses he goes through to get there. I also wanted to know about his superstars out of my own curiosity.
I spoke to Baffert for 3 hours and he was quite forthcoming on-and-off-camera. By nature I'm polite so take that for what you will. I asked him dozens of other questions off-camera regarding the heart attacks of his horses, to the rate poison, to EPO masking, to Clenbuterol, to nearly everything I've ever heard a horseplayer question. He came across as a stand-up man who trains above board without any shadiness. That's my bottom line. He wasn't nervous and he showed a lot of confidence and class. Baffert also acknowledged his horses are tested out of performance quite often and none have ever tested positive for anything other than what is public from many years ago.
So let's pause for a minute and think out loud. There are many ways to get a horse to develop and perhaps his training techniques, treatments, or supplementation before they reach the track are hinged to his success. If so, that is all legal and if that's his edge, then so be it. Perhaps he is doing something legal that is proprietary based on science but without doping. Perhaps nutrition matters more than people think. I don't know how he does it as his win percentage in Triple Crown races appears unfathomable to me, but I'm going to believe him given how easy it would be for someone to make a million off a book deal if others were involved. Furthermore, to make the claim that he is drugging his horses days or weeks pre-race appears difficult to back up at this time given my discussions with Dr. Arthur and others. I will soon air another video from Dr. Arthur to share the current state of the California industry on drug testing. It's first class.
Sorry to disappoint you all (lol) but at least I had the courage to ask him hard questions and at least he had the courage to ask back on-camera. No one has ever had that candid of a conversation with him (or any trainer) on such a tough topic before. Thanks for watching it and stay tuned for more interviews, questions, and opinions to come. I will also be broadcasting some live observations and commentary during Breeders' Cup this year from my home aka "The Passion Mansion" while I compete for a chance to win a $1M bonus. I hope you all look forward to more rugged journalism to come rather than the brown nosing news...bless up.