“YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature. And YOU will atone.” —Arthur Jensen in Network
Jensen’s character in the Oscar-winning 1976 movie was vividly played by Louisville native Ned Beatty, and let’s just say that Churchill Downs Incorporated channeled its homeboy’s famous on-screen screed when it addressed thoroughbred trainer Bob Baffert on Wednesday.
Baffert has meddled with the primal force that is the Kentucky Derby. And he will atone.
Churchill’s two-year suspension of Baffert was its own thunderous pronouncement that the U.S.’s biggest race is bigger than the U.