Famed racehorse trainer Bob Baffert files alleging plot by bettors to extort, defame him
The accusations revolve around doping allegations that have hung over Baffert, whose horse Medina Spirit won the 2021 Kentucky Derby but failed a post-race drug test and was later disqualified. Churchill Downs, the track where the Kentucky Derby is raced, has suspended him through at least 2024, though Baffert continues racing horses at other tracks, including Del Mar.
Baffert, 70, alleges in the lawsuit that the two men “have urged others to engage in violent behavior toward Baffert and his family, baselessly accused Baffert of criminal conduct, and attempted to extort Baffert and his family under threats to his business, reputation, and occupational license.”
The suit alleges that New Jersey residents Justin Wunderler and Daniel DiCorcia both operate anonymous social media accounts and “have engaged in an escalating pattern of unlawful and threatening behavior directed specifically at Baffert and his family. This escalating pattern of outrageous behavior is specifically intended to accrue more followers and personal monetary gain.”
DiCorcia could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening. In direct messages on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, Wunderler told the San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday: “Never asked for money from Bob Baffert I want to do whats best for horse racing.” In another message he wrote: “Bob Baffert has continued to kill horses.”
Wunderler is one of the plaintiffs in a pair of federal lawsuits against Baffert in California and New Jersey over lost betting revenue caused by the 2021 Kentucky Derby drug scandal.
Baffert’s lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses Wunderler and DiCorcia of a plot to extort Baffert that played out earlier this month on social media and through a text message, at a time when Baffert’s horses were racing at Del Mar.
Wunderler allegedly posted on X on Sept. 6: “There is a video out there that will end Baffert.”
The suit alleges that Wunderler sent a text message to Baffert’s wife through a third party the next day. The text demanded money “in exchange for a promise not to release information Defendants allege is so damaging that it will end Baffert’s career,” according to the lawsuit.
A screenshot of the alleged extortion text reads in part: “My lawyer now has videos. He like to reach out to Baffert Lawyers. He is going to include in message/email two clips of the video. Payment for clips to be sent to my paypal … Its 1K for those 2 clips. My lawyer will thrn (sic) go thru with his lawyer. If payment is sent , clips videos will be sent by tomorrow.”
According to a screenshot included in the lawsuit, Wunderler also posted on X in May that he would leave Baffert alone in exchange for $1 million.
After the Union-Tribune contacted Wunderler on Wednesday, he posted a screenshot of a portion of the messages between he and the reporter to his followers, writing: “Going need a lawyer.” “Lets get Baffert under oath then.” “Going have my lawyers look into all missing horses. Im ready Baffert.”
Wunderler and Baffert have been parties in the same lawsuit before over betting revenue and the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Following Medina Spirit’s suspension, a number of bettors, including Wunderler, filed federal lawsuits in California and New Jersey accusing Baffert and his racing stable of RICO violations, alleging “Baffert’s multiple and repeated acts of doping and entering horses into thoroughbred races” was affecting gambling outcomes.
The suit alleges that Wunderler’s betting tickets cost roughly $2,000, and he would have won at least $40,000 “but for the illegal, drug-induced win by Medina Spirit.” The New Jersey lawsuit is still ongoing.
Arguably the best-known horse trainer in the U.S., Baffert has been a regular at Del Mar’s summer sessions for decades. An Arizona native whose main residence is now in the Los Angeles area, Baffert is best known for training American Pharoah, who in 2015 became the first horse in 37 years to win the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
Baffert-trained Justify also won the Triple Crown in 2018. In total, Baffert-trained horses have won six Kentucky Derbies, eight Preakness Stakes and three Belmont Stakes. And this summer in Del Mar, Baffert-trained Arabian Knight won the $1 million Pacific Classic — the biggest race of the track’s summer season. Baffert has won a record seven Pacific Classics at Del Mar since 1991.
But in 2021, Medina Spirit failed a drug test following its Kentucky Derby win. Churchill Downs suspended Baffert, initially for two years, though it has since extended the suspension. Baffert sued the track, testifying later that Churchill Downs caused irreparable harm to both his business and reputation.
Track officials announced last year that they were extending his suspension through at least 2024, saying that Baffert was peddling “false narratives” about the drug for which the horse tested positive. Betamethasone is legal in Kentucky, but banned on race day.
“A trainer who is unwilling to accept responsibility for multiple drug test failures in our highest-profile races cannot be trusted to avoid future misconduct,” Churchill Downs officials said in a statement.
According to Baffert’s suit filed Wednesday, Wunderler and DiCorcia “spearheaded a conspiracy theory alleging that Baffert was scratching his horses because of an adverse reaction the horses were having to ‘blood doping’ with erythropoietin or ‘EPO.’ ”
The suit describes blood doping as a “criminal felony offense that would disqualify Baffert” from training horses in any jurisdiction. The suit contends that Baffert does not engage in the practice, and that public investigations “have repeatedly noted that there is no evidence that Baffert engages in blood doping.”
On Sept. 10, the final day of the Del Mar season, Baffert’s horses finished first and second in the Del Mar Futurity. The 1-2 finish earned Baffert $240,000 of the $300,000 purse.
A 2009 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Baffert has accumulated more than 3,260 wins and earnings of more than $338 million.
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Staff sports editor Ryan Finley contributed to this report.
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