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Bob Baffert suspended by Churchill Downs after Medina Spirit’s second constructive drug take a look at

Bob Baffert suspended by Churchill Downs after Medina Spirit’s second positive drug test

Churchill Downs Racetrack suspended equestrian trainer Bob Baffert for two years just hours after lawyers announced Wednesday that its Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had failed a second drug test for the banned steroid betamethasone.

The suspension means that no horse trained by Baffert or Bob Baffert Racing Stables will be able to ride a track owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated until the Churchill Downs Spring Meeting closes.

Part of that gathering is the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel in the horse racing triple crown. Kentucky Horse Racing Commission officials have yet to decide whether Medina Spirit’s win in the derby should be overturned due to the two failed tests.

Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen quoted Baffert’s history of failed horse drug testing when he announced the two-year ban on the coach, whose seven derby wins are the most of all coaches.

This year alone, Baffert failed five horses in drug tests.

Carstanjen also took a shot of Baffert for spreading the idea that Medina Spirit only had betamethasone in its system from an anti-fungal ointment being applied to the horse.

“CDI has consistently advocated strict drug regulations so that we can confidently ensure that the horses are fit for racing and that the races are conducted fairly,” Carstanjen said in a statement.

“Reckless practices and substance abuse that endanger the safety of our equine and human athletes or endanger the integrity of our sport are unacceptable and as a company we must take steps to show that they will not be tolerated,” said Carstanjen.

Bob Baffert, coach of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, stands near the track at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on April 28, 2021.

Bryan Woolston | Reuters

“Mr. Baffert’s record of test failure threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby,” said the CEO.

“In light of these repeated failures over the past year, including the increasingly extraordinary declarations, we firmly believe that it is our duty and responsibility to enforce our right to enforce these measures.”

Baffert announced on May 9 that Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a steroid used for therapeutic purposes in horses, in a sample taken on the day of his Derby victory a week earlier. Baffert said 21 picograms of the drug were found in it.

Although this drug is legal for use as a therapeutic on a horse in Kentucky, any trace of it on race day is a reason for disqualification if a second test confirms it was in the blood that day.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the owners of Medina Spirit, Amr Zedan and Baffert, announced that betamethasone was found in a second test of a blood sample.

Clark Brewster, Zedan’s attorney, told CNBC that officials are allowing the Medina Spirit team to have a third sample from the horse analyzed by another laboratory.

That test, Brewster said, could determine if there are any chemicals that would support Baffert’s claim that the betamethasone may have come from a topical ointment called Otomax rather than an injection.

Brewster found that a picogram is only a trillionth of a gram.

“Hopefully they’ll make a reasonable judgment,” Brewster said, referring to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s review of drug test results.

“I think there will be consensus that this is a negligible amount that cannot have affected the race,” said the lawyer.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC and NBC Sports, which broadcast the Triple Crown races.

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Business

Ranch Rider Spirits’ canned craft cocktails boomed through the pandemic

Ranch Rider Spirits' canned craft cocktails boomed during the pandemic

Brian and Quentin at Ranch Rider Spirits.

Source: Ranch Rider Spirits

Ranch Rider Spirits’ cocktail line is as Texan as possible.

The canned cocktails were built and bred in the beating heart of Austin, Texas and are the craft of co-founders Quentin Cantu and Brian Murphy. Ranch Rider Spirits offers four downright Texan craft cocktails with no preservatives or additives in simple 12-ounce cans.

Originally from Texas, Cantu completed a six-year stint in Washington, DC, where he worked in politics before heading out to the Lone Star State in 2016 to befriend Murphy.

“I think we were really hungry to learn new skills outside of class and outside of our previous careers,” Cantu told CNBC. Armed with the basics of business, Cantu and Murphy launched their first company – a food truck that offered healthier options to students on the sprawling UT campus.

“We went out at 6am, bought food, cooked that day, and then went to class and did it all over again with very little sleep,” said Cantu, explaining that the two started business while doing a full deal . Course load of UT’s demanding MBA program.

As the demand for meals cooked on board the food truck, affectionately known as the “Ranch Hand” increased, Cantu and Murphy expanded the business with a range of handmade cocktails.

“I think we hit a nerve,” said Cantu of the relatively quick success. “We met a lot of unknown consumer demand for something that wasn’t beer, but also wasn’t spiked seltzer.”

To keep up with demand, the two pondered how to further scale the happy accident of a potential alcohol business.

“We didn’t want to just open a bar. We wanted to make sure the product we made could be enjoyed by everyone for a longer period of time,” Cantu told CNBC, adding that a canned product gave them flexibility in pursuing e-commerce -Sales as well as doing business with health-focused grocery stores like Whole Foods.

Ranch Rider Spirits

Source: Ranch Rider Spirits

In January 2020, with the grace of Austin Angel investors, Cantu and Murphy launched their first cans in the local market. Four months later, as the coronavirus pandemic raged, forcing restaurants and bars to close, Cantu and Murphy saw soaring demand as diners brought cocktail culture home.

“Obviously people quarantined at home and spent a lot more time online during the pandemic, so we really invested in digital marketing, which we both got from our previous careers before business school,” explained Cantu.

Online alcohol sales rose a whopping 243% in the third week of March, according to data from Nielsen published by Bloomberg.

Data from IWSR and Nielsen showed that ready-to-drink retailers saw sales surge during the coronavirus pandemic, according to BevAlc Insights of alcohol e-commerce platform Drizly.

During a 23-week period amid the August 8th coronavirus pandemic, the ready-to-drink sector saw off-premise dollar sales grow 86.8% year over year, according to Nielsen.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the sector saw 21.5% growth for a 52 week period ending February 29, according to Drizly.

“When you think about the value proposition of a canned cocktail like Ranch Rider, when you want to go to the lake or pool with friends and have a liquor-based cocktail, you don’t want to bring a glass bottle, you don’t want to bring ice, you don’t want fresh limes and Bring side dishes, “Cantu explained.

Ranch Rider Spirits ranked second among Drizly’s best-selling 2020 brands, beating ready-to-drink offerings from industry giants like Ketel One, 1800 Tequila, Jim Beam and Cutwater Spirits.

In its first year of business, Ranch Rider had sales of approximately $ 4 million, nearly quadrupling its conservative projections.

“Much of our growth has been organic because we’ve focused on slowly cultivating audiences, mostly in Texas, that appreciate the craftsmanship of our product,” said Cantu.

Austin’s craft culture

Ranch Rider Spirits

Source: Ranch Rider Spirits

The funky, upbeat heart of Texas is home to the University of Texas, the annual SXSW (South by Southwest) technology conference, multiple arts and music festivals, and has become a mecca for startups that are in some ways leaving Silicon Valley.

The city thrives on a vibrant terrace culture powered by food, drinks and live music.

“The culture of Texas, and Austin in particular, is a culture of craft,” Cantu explained. “There’s a high premium here and appreciation and respect for craftsmanship, and we never wanted to lose sight of that value as it drives our growth.”

To ensure full accuracy of the production process, Cantu and Murphy built a 20,000 square foot facility about 40 minutes outside of Austin.

“We felt that it was important to touch and feel everything that goes into our product. We didn’t want to outsource this process to someone else, and I really think a lot of people in Austin really appreciate that attention to detail . ” he added.

“Real citrus fruits, real spirits”

Canned Cocktails from Ranch Rider Spirits Co.

Courtesy Ranch Rider Spirits

Last week Ranch Rider Spirits unveiled their fourth canned cocktail called “The Buck”, a recipe from Moscow Mule made from six times distilled vodka, freshly squeezed organic ginger, freshly squeezed lime and mineral water.

“The Buck” contains 5.9% alcohol and 119 calories and follows “Ranch Water”, a cocktail based on reposado tequila with a dash of sparkling water and freshly squeezed lime juice. The legendary West Texas cocktail “The Chilton” is the place where the freshly squeezed lemon juice shines next to a pinch of sea salt and vodka.

The portfolio is rounded off by the “Tequila Paloma”, in which reposado tequila, freshly squeezed grapefruit, lime, orange and mineral water merge.

“We printed this on the label of each can, but we’re just keeping it stupid. We use real citrus, real liquor, no additives, no preservatives, no sugar at all,” explained Cantu. “It tastes fresh because it’s not artificial and it’s not made in a laboratory,” he added.

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Entertainment

Transcendent Spirits: Carry 40 Voices and Dance

Transcendent Spirits: Lift 40 Voices and Dance

Like dance and the other performing arts, choral singing has had a tough year. Singing is breath, breath carries germs, and these days large groups of people singing together are nightmares. But the urge to raise voices in a song together, like the urge to switch to music, is powerful. Now the New York Choral Society is combining the two – dancing and singing – in a new short film that will be released on February 23rd.

The film, a setting of the anthem “God Is Seen,” will be available indefinitely on the company’s website and YouTube page. It is tuned to the sound of 40 unaccompanied voices, recorded individually, and then mixed using software called Soundtrap. Like many ancient folk anthems, the earliest version of “God Is Seen” was based on an existing popular song that provided its simple, hypnotic melody. The Choral Society sings a 1967 version by the American composer Alice Parker, which has become an integral part of the American choral repertoire.

The dance that the Choral Society commissioned for this piece is a duet by Claudia Schreier. It was also remotely created with Schreier on FaceTime in a state while the dancers – Larissa Gerszke of Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Chalvar Monteiro of Alvin Ailey – rehearse in New York. In the film, Gerszke and Monteiro dance in a performance room in Brooklyn that has been converted by the church, the Irondale, a free, unencumbered room into which light streams in from above. “I wanted to keep it simple,” Schreier said in an interview, “to honor the human voice and the human form. I love the idea that it is about the two things that don’t need any additional elements. They are the most natural way we exist. “

The transcendence of mind has long been a central driving force behind the work of Ronald K. Brown, whose Brooklyn-based company Ronald K. Brown / Evidence turns 35 this year. Thanks to the emergence of “bubble residencies”, in which dancers quarantine and take several Covid tests so that they can rehearse together, the company has been able to continue working. (To attend one of these residences, the dancers traveled 15 hours on the charter bus to St. Louis.)

The result: a program with excerpts from dances that Brown has created over three decades and which will be broadcast live on February 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern. The performance – produced by four presenters – will be broadcast from the stage of the Joyce Theater in Manhattan to the world. (Tickets can be found on joyce.org and the stream will be available through March 4th.)

The pieces are from “March” 1995 and contain words taken from the speeches and writings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With the exception of the ensemble work “Mercy” from 2019, by the singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello, the dances are solos and duets. The program is a great introduction to Brown’s style with its infectious mix of African, Caribbean and African American ballroom dancing.

The New York City Ballet returns online with a series of weekly spotlights of key works by its founding choreographer, George Balanchine. Week 1 is dedicated to the biblically inspired “Prodigal Son”, Balanchine’s second oldest surviving work, created in 1929 for the Ballets Russes.

The title role has been danced by everyone from Jerome Robbins to Baryshnikov, but the man it belonged to in the 1960s was Edward Villella, who will speak about his experience of dancing the ballet on City Ballet’s podcast, which will start on February 22nd The company will stream an open rehearsal and conversation with Maria Kowroski, a dancer closely linked to the role of the Siren, the beautiful but dangerous nemesis of the lost, in the evening at 8 p.m. Kowroski is expected to retire in the fall, so this is a great opportunity to hear her thoughts. On February 25, the entire ballet will be shown in a recorded performance from a few years ago, danced by Daniel Ulbricht and Teresa Reichlen. You can find these free shows (which will be available through March 4th) at nycballet.com.

If you’ve ever tried dipping a toe into ballet as an adult but were afraid of feeling ridiculous, now is a good time to try. What most people don’t realize is that most beginner classes in ballet studios require a basic level of knowledge. The same goes for most of the courses offered online by professional dancers with extra time.

What you really need is an introductory class given by a skilled teacher who can patiently teach the names of the steps and basic coordination. Thanks to Zoom, this is now possible at home without the fear of embarrassment. A chair or countertop to rest your hand, sweatpants and a small space – let’s say the gap between the couch and the television – are all you need.

Both the Mark Morris Dance Center and the Broadway Dance Center offer one-week virtual ballet introductory workshops. The Ballet Academy East, a small neighborhood school on the Upper East Side, lets you sign up for individual classes, which is very nice.

“We keep them at a really basic level so that people can feel comfortable and then move to one of our beginner classes when they’re ready,” said Julia Dubno, the school’s founder and director, on a phone call. Every week there are four different “Introduction to Ballet” classes to choose from (with different teachers). The Tuesday and Sunday courses include live piano accompaniment, also via Zoom. You can choose the teacher who suits you best or alternatively. And at $ 12 per class, there’s no excuse not to try.