Richard Baltas has filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board, its officers and members of the Board, seeking in excess of $12 million for allegedly violating his rights to due process as guaranteed under CHRB Rules, 42 USC 1983, the 14th Amendment to the United State Constitution and Article 1, Section 7 of the California Constitution.
Baltas has not run a horse at Santa Anita since May 7. The following day, one of his employees was observed on video surveillance administering a substance from an oral dose syringe in the mouth of a horse named Noble Reflection hours before he was to race. Noble Reflection was scratched. A syringe was found in a feed bag and testing showed that it contained traces of Higenamine and Paconol. Noble Reflection did not test positive for any prohibited substances, according to the Baltas lawsuit. The Baltas employee who was seen administering the dose, Martin Valenzuela, would tell CHRB investigators he did give the horse a paste known as X-Treme Air Boost, but said he mistakenly gave it on race day and contrary to instructions from Baltas.
Santa Anita officials subsequently reviewed previous video surveillance of the Baltas barn and found 22 other incidents of horses being treated on race day via an oral syringe. The track's owner then announced Baltas would not be allowed to enter horses or record timed workouts for his horses until further notice. The CHRB issued a complaint on June 21 charging Baltas with 23 counts of violating Rule 1843.5 and 1887 (a) and one count of violating rule 1902. A hearing scheduled for July 1 has been postponed.
Baltas alleges he was denied the ability to exercise his license rights by entering horses in races at all the tracks in the State of California, including Santa Anita Park and Los Alamitos. The denial of Baltas license rights is based on what his attorney claims are unproven allegations, without first giving Baltas a hearing, thereby depriving him of testifying in his defense, calling witnesses on his behalf, cross examining his accusers, submitting evidence, including expert reports, and all of the other rights he is supposed to have before being penalized.
None of the 23 horses in question tested positive for any prohibited substance, with all tested horses testing clean, the lawsuit claims. Nevertheless, Baltas' trainer rights have been suspended, causing him to lose clients, lose horses, suffer a loss of reputation and, if the CHRB has its way to suspend his license for a year, to lose his career as one of top horse trainers in the U.S.
The claims against Baltas include 23 counts of a violation of CHRB Rule 1887 (a) which his attorney says only applies in a situation when there is a “… Chemical or other analysis of urine or blood test samples or other tests, prove positive showing the presence of any Prohibited Drug Substance defined in Rule 1843.1.”
Because Higenamine and Paeonol, the two Chinese herbal products found on an oral syringe located in a trash can (but not in the horse) do not qualify as either a Prohibited Drug Substance under Rule 1843.1, and do not appear on the Medication Violation substances under 1843.3, and are also not listed as a foreign substance under the Association of Racing Commissioners International (“ARCI”), his complaint claims that there is no violation under CHRB Rule 1887 (a).
Complaint and exhibits, including CHRB investigation reports
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