Schiappa:Baffert is recovering quick and training

Bob Baffert, two-time Dubai World Cup-winning trainer and one of the most recognisable faces in the sport of flat-racing, is said to be making a quick recovery after suffering a heart attack in his hotel room in the early hours of Monday. However, less than 24 hours since Baffert was rushed to City Hospital where a team of doctors successfully inserted three stents into two of his arteries, his owner hailed the medical care he was provided in Dubai and described it as being "unbelievable". "I spoke to him [Baffert] just before coming here. He is very fine and he is training from the bed," Bernie Schiappa, co-owner of Game On Dude who is a leading contender for Saturday's Dubai World cup [G1)], said. "If he had his way, he would walk out now, but the doctors won't allow him." Schiappa recalled the chilling minutes when he got a call informing him about Baffert's heart attack. It happened at about 3am in the morning. My wife got a phone call from Bob's wife, Jill, saying he had chest pain, tightening in his chest, his arm was numb, and his palms were sweaty. My wife told her to call 911 right away and said that sounded like a stroke," Schiappa said. ‘Unbelievable experience' "Soon, the paramedics came, we got to the hospital, and got him to the emergency room. If it was California or Las Vegas, there would be so many people in an emergency room, but here there was just one, and it was unbelievable what they did. "The doctor soon did an ECG and then came down to tell us that he had suffered a heart attack. Bob was moved to the ICU. "In the meantime, I called Tim Yakteen [assistant to Baffert] who is with the horses here and he called a vet who works for Godolphin and then His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, was informed," Schiappa, 68, said. "The way we were handled from the time we got to the emergency room throughout to the ICU was unbelievable. "And to think about it, I don't know where it works and how it works but it was remarkable that we went to a hospital in another country and within five minutes, the cardiologist is there!" "We were told he needed an angioplasty and they wanted to do it right now. And here we were in the ICU room and within 20 minutes, the procedure was on. Three stents were put in — one block in the main artery was 100 per cent, and two stents in one other artery." "I just want to say one thing to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad — that was a class act. To me, that is a friend for life," Schiappa said. "My best friend Terry Lane [co-owner of Game on Dude] passed away last year. His wife is coming with her two boys. It will be a big emotional fact if he [Game On Dude] wins for both Bob and Terry and for us. Shaikh Mohammad, accompanied by his bloodstock manager Alex Fergusson, visited Baffert at the hospital on Monday.