'Cancel culture' has infiltrated horse racing, according to Bob Baffert
The latest victim of so-called "cancel culture" is not a human. It's apparently a horse.
Trainer Bob Baffert, whose Kentucky Derby-winning horse Medina Spirit tested positive for a regulated substance on Sunday, believes that positive test is a result of "cancel culture." During a Fox News interview on Monday, Baffert blamed the positive test as well as Churchill Downs' "harsh" statement on cancel culture.
Baffert: My horse is a victim of cancel culture pic.twitter.com/PgWWtiidAI
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) May 10, 2021
“Churchill Downs came out with that statement — that was pretty harsh. With all the noise … We live in a different world now. This America is different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing so they’re reviewing it."
Cancel culture? Really?
How is cancel culture to blame for Medina Spirit failing a drug test and possibly being stripped of his Derby win? No one knows, because Baffert didn't elaborate. Since that claim makes absolutely no sense at all, it'll remain a mystery until he decides to explain it.
Baffert also said cancel culture was to blame for Churchill Downs' statement on Medina Spirit's positive test. He said he found the statement "harsh," but again didn't bother to explain why. Baffert may be talking about the track's decision to suspend him from entering any horses until the investigation is over. How cancel culture, a term that's often used by people who object to being held accountable for their actions, is to blame for the suspension isn't clear.
What is clear is that five Baffert-trained horses have tested positive for a banned substance over the past year. Baffert said they were all the result of contamination.
.@BillHemmer: Why do your horses keep failing drug tests?
Baffert: I would never use that particular drug on a horse. We don't use that drug. pic.twitter.com/KsOGkn5Z3t— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) May 10, 2021
Baffert's other baffling claim
Baffert's interview on Fox News was classic him: While mostly speaking in the third person, he made several contradictory claims about Medina Spirit's innocence and who is really responsible for the positive test. In the same breath, Baffert claimed that Medina Spirit had never been given betamethasone, the drug the horse tested positive for, while blaming the positive test on new, strict regulations.
Bob Baffert blames "regulations" for his horse's positive doping test. pic.twitter.com/KzDQN2804d
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) May 10, 2021
How do those two things fit together? They don't. It's true that if regulations didn't exist, Medina Spirit wouldn't have tested positive for anything since nothing is banned. But you can't blame a positive test on strict regulations if you insist the horse was never given that particular drug.
Unless the regulations became sentient, grew a body and injected the drug without being seen, Baffert might want to check his math again. As Baffert himself said during the interview, "Bob Baffert isn't stupid."
More from Yahoo Sports: