Five years after it was filed and seven years after it began, the 43-count animal cruelty case against former trainer Maria Borell has been dismissed with prejudice by a Mercer County District Court Judge.
Borell's attorney, Russell Baldani, filed a tendered order last week proposing that the case be dropped, and it was signed by Judge Jeff Dotson on July 20. That order also removed the court's bond restriction that Borell not be responsible for the care of any horses in the commonwealth of Kentucky, and suggested that her $7,500 bond be held in escrow by Baldani and paid to Thoroughbred Charities of America.
Cases dismissed “with prejudice” may not be brought back to court.
Borell posted a statement expressing her relief that the case has come to a close.
“Seven years. Seven years and it's finally over. Saying it out loud, it seems impossible that it has been that long. Life stood still for me. To all of my past clients, my friends, my attorney Russ Baldani, everyone that has stood behind me through this battle, I love you and appreciate you more than you can ever imagine. Thank you for keeping me strong enough to never give up and to keep fighting. The outpouring of congratulatory messages and calls I received yesterday with plans for my future in racing was astounding. For the first time in years, my heart is full.
The internet is the harshest of all judges and juries. People that have never even met you, judge you, rather than using rational, logical thought processes with the facts that are presented. The way I have always said things that happened with my father's farm is the truth.
After everything happened, I was deprived of making a living and it took time to get resources together to fight the false accusations. I retained my first attorney in 2018. The date of the first motion recorded in Mercer County was October 2018. The years to follow were rifled with court delays and Covid. Mercer County did the right thing by dropping the charges and not wasting taxpayers' money on a trial: the facts for any culpability on my part simply were not there. I had no connection with the property in Mercer County, including the employees, care, and oversight of the horses. I was living and training horses 1,000 miles away in Florida for 7 months prior.
Those who know me, know I would never knowingly harm any animal. No animal in my personal care has ever been mistreated in any way. I am happily forfeiting my bail money to Thoroughbred Charities of America in thanks for helping all Thoroughbreds then, now, and in the future.”
Borell and her father, Charles Borell, were both charged with animal cruelty after 43 neglected horses were found in 2016 on a Mercer County farm that was leased in the elder Borell's name. Charles Borell entered an Alford guilty plea in the case – meaning he did not admit to committing a crime but conceded there was enough evidence to convict him. Prosecutors dropped 34 animal cruelty charges in exchange for his guilty plea on nine counts. He was put on probation for two years.
Maria Borell did not appear in court on the charges until last year, when she entered a not guilty plea. According to her attorney, she has not been living in Kentucky since late 2015.
The animal cruelty charges were misdemeanors, which meant that prior to her voluntary return to the state to enter a plea, she could not be extradited on the warrant.
Maria Borell trained Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Runhappy for most of his 3-year-old campaign in 2015, when he won the Grade 1 King's Bishop (now H. Allen Jerkens Stakes) at Saratoga and the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. She was dismissed the day after the Breeders' Cup by owner James McIngvale and closed out the year with a G1 victory in the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita.
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