The Arkansas Racing Commission suspended two-time Triple Crown trainer Bob Baffert for 15 days on Thursday, according to The New York Times. In addition, two of Baffert's victories have been vacated as a result of a pair of his horses testing positive for a banned substance. The suspension will begin on August 1.
Charlatan, one of the horses that failed a drug test, won a division of the Arkansas Derby back on May 2. As a result of the suspension, the colt's owners will be forced to give back the $300,000 of prize money from that race.
According to the Association of Racetrack Commissioners International and the Thoroughbred Regulatory Rulings database, these are the 26th and 27th drug violations for Bafferts during his time as a trainer.
Charlatan and the other horse, Gamine, tested positive for lidocaine in June, which is the same banned substance they both tested positive for in a first round of testing in May. Lidocaine is known by the Association of Racing Commissioners International as a Class 2 drug. According to the New York Times and Louisville Courier-Journal, the first positive test on the horses came during a meet at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Lidocaine normally carries a penalty of a suspension of 15 to 60 days and a $500-$1,000 fine for the first offense. It is often used as a masking agent for other substances, which is why it has been banned.
Baffert has won the Kentucky Derby on five different occasions. In 2015, he trained American Pharoah, who became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed did in 1978. Baffert trained his second Triple Crown-winning horse, Justify, in 2018.
