A new chapter was filed last week in the meandering story of owner Mick Ruis' legal challenge against the California Horse Racing Board, according to bloodhorse.com. Ruis, owner of 2018 Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bolt d'Oro, filed a legal challenge in 2020 against the CHRB's decision not to disqualify the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, Justify.
Justify tested positive for scopolamine after his victory, a substance which was at that time classified as a class 3 drug. CHRB rule 1859.5 states that a finding of any drug in “class levels 1-3 (unless not confirmed by split sample testing) shall require disqualification.” However, the CHRB chose not to disqualify Justify after meeting in an executive (closed) session in August of 2018.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff issued a ruling on the case May 27. Although the judge agreed with Ruis that “there can be no question the facts found by the Stewards required Justify to be disqualified under Rule 1859.5,” he ended up remanding the case back to the stewards so that they could further explain the legal reasoning for choosing not to disqualify the horse.
Beckloff wrote: “effective judicial review of the Steward's (sic) decision is not possible because of a lack of clarity in the decision…. The Court cannot determine from the record how the Stewards reached their decision. Their analytical path is unclear.”
Beckloff will review the matter again at a status hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court Aug. 4
Ruis' attorney, Carlo Fisco, gave the following statement:
“The parties (CHRB and Ruis) and Judge Beckloff all agreed that the Stewards' decision lacked sufficient clarity on the fundamental legal issue, namely, explanation of the legal effect of the closed session decision on the Stewards, to wit, under what theory, doctrine or law did the Stewards defer to the executive session decision despite finding all the required elements for disqualification under Rule 1859.5. Specifically, the Stewards failed to explain how the CHRB's August 2018 closed session prevented them from disqualifying Justify despite finding that the Class 3 prohibited substance, scopolamine, was present in the official sample collected from Justify following the running of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. There is no dispute to the facts. But the Stewards made no attempt to explain how their Rule 1859.5 hearing got roadblocked by what happened in the executive session.
“We hope the Stewards take their time and provide everyone with the legal basis for their decision. After all, they did find that the horse should have been disqualified. The executive session should have had nothing to do with that finding once the Rule 1859.5 complaint was filed. CHRB Rules and California statutes require the disqualification of any horse who tests positive for a prohibited substance. Whatever happened at the secret session cannot obstruct those regulatory and statutory requirements.”
Read more at bloodhorse.com.
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