Baffert responds to criticism over Tweebster

[Calzone Lord]

The idea of dropping a horse sharply in class "to boost the confidence" is a whole lot of trainer speak.

Claiming these horses is like trying to catch a falling knife ... they normally continue to see a form decline unless some physical issue gets addressed. Occasionally, you'll see someone will catch the handle and be rewarded when the form comes back around. Normally though, you're going to end up getting at least some blade.

Tweebster had been on a steady decline down the class ladder since he was competitive in Graded Stakes races at around this time last year.

It was one supposed "confidence booster" after another if you fall for the trainer speak ... in reality, the horses form was steadily deteriorating and he was losing a step all the time.

Baffert, for the most part, puts horses where they belong on paper. Based on recent efforts, I think spotting Tweebster for $12,500 was very appropriate and consistent with how he places horses ... however, Tweebster is a two-turn horse and cutting him back to a sprint over the wet track might have been a little more demanding race for him than some of his recent slow paced routes.

He obvious had some issues, but he was sound enough to at least complete the race and the problem seemed to occur while he was pulling up.

Even though I don't agree with what Baffert said ... this breakdown would not have got any attention at all if the horse wasn't trained by Baffert.