Tag: appeal

CHRB Denies Stay of Justify Decision, Will Entertain Appeal

In the latest detour in the exhaustive legal saga stemming from Justify's 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby win, the connections of the horse during his racing career filed a notice last week with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) requesting that the agency entertain an appeal of a recent board of stewards decision disqualifying the horse from the race and to stay the purse distribution.

In response, the CHRB have denied a stay of the stewards' decision but stated that it will “assign a Hearing Officer in this matter where the issue of timeliness of the appeal and appeal itself will be heard and a proposed decision submitted to the Board for consideration,” according to an order issued by the CHRB Tuesday.

The plaintiffs in the appeal are owners China Horse Club International Limited, Head of Plains Partners, Starlight Racing, WinStar Farm, jockey Mike Smith and trainer Bob Baffert.

After the New York Times first reported that Justify had tested positive post-race for scopolamine, Mick Ruis, owner-trainer of the runner-up that day, Bolt d'Oro, sought to have the result of the race overturned with Bolt d'Oro declared the winner.

Ruis alleged that the CHRB failed to follow its own rules when it decided not to pursue penalties after Justify's positive test. The CHRB argued that Justify should not be disqualified because the positive test was the result of contamination linked to jimson weed.

At the end of last year, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered the CHRB to set aside the stewards' 2020 decision and issue a new ruling disqualifying winner Justify from the Santa Anita Derby.

Early in March, the CHRB reached a separate settlement that called for the agency to pay Ruis $300,000, and to order a redistribution of the $1-million purse.

In last week's notice, Amanda Groves, who represents Justify's connections, argued that grounds for an appeal included how the plaintiffs were not a party to the lawsuit between Ruis and the CHRB, leading to “Procedural irregularities and denial of due process and/or a fair and impartial hearing.”

Groves also reiterated the CHRB's original claim, writing that “it is undisputed that the positive scopolamine test was a result of environmental contamination due to inadvertent exposure to jimsonweed in hay/straw.”

BloodHorse reported that Ruis's attorneys had filed a response arguing that none of the grounds raised in the appeal are relevant.

When asked about the contents of the letter, Darrell Vienna, who represents Ruis, told the TDN that the CHRB issued the disqualification order “because they were ordered to do so by the court.”

The court did not demand that the CHRB hold another hearing on the matter, Vienna added. “It just issued an order to disqualify the horse, Justify, and to redistribute the purse,” he said.

“If the Justify parties have issue with that, that issue should be addressed at the Superior Court, in my opinion,” said Vienna. “If the court orders a subordinate agency to do something, they must do it.”

According to last week's notice of appeal, Justify's first-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby accrued the owners a combined $585,000, while Smith and Baffert each received $58,450.

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Harris Withdraws Appeal Regarding Licensing Committee’s Ruling

After appealing the British Horseracing Authority (BHA)'s ruling regarding his licence last week, former trainer Milton Harris has now withdrawn that appeal, the BHA confirmed on Wednesday.

Harris had his licence suspended in November and withdrawn in January by the BHA's Licensing Committee. The agency ruled he was not a “fit and proper person” to hold a training licence.

Regarding the BHA's concerns, the Licensing Committee said, they surrounded “the nature and extent of MH's admitted breaches of the conditions which already exist on his licence, which were imposed in 2018 and MH's failure to be candid in his dealings with the BHA in respect of those breaches, particularly when the BHA was seeking to provide opportunities for MH to remedy those breaches”, “misconduct in his dealings with others, including fellow licence holder Mr Simon Earle” and “in respect of safeguarding arising out of MH's conduct with young persons employed at his racing yard”.

Harris began training in 2001 but ceased training from 2011 to 2018 due to financial issues.

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Former Trainer Milton Harris To Appeal BHA’s Ruling

Former trainer Milton Harris, whose licence was suspended in November and withdrawn in January, will appeal the decision of the British Horseracing Authority's Licensing Committee, a BHA spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday evening.

The BHA Licensing Committee's verdict stated in January that he was not a “fit and proper person” to hold a training licence. Originally, his licence was suspended by the BHA in November pending January's hearing, with the BHA's stance, “a result of a breach of the conditions on his licence and related matters”.

A spokesperson for the BHA said on Wednesday, “The BHA can confirm that Mr. Harris has formally notified the BHA of his intention to appeal against the recent decision of the Licensing Committee. We will provide further details regarding the appeal in due course and will make no further comment at this time.”

Harris told PA Sport, “I have appealed. I need to respect the Licensing Committee's decision, which I do, but some of the information they have been given was not correct.”

Some of the BHA's concerns surrounded “the nature and extent of Harris's admitted breaches of the conditions which already exist on his licence, which were imposed in 2018 and Harris's failure to be candid in his dealings with the BHA in respect of those breaches, particularly when the BHA was seeking to provide opportunities for Harris to remedy those breaches”, “misconduct in his dealings with others, including fellow licence holder Mr. Simon Earle” and “in respect of safeguarding arising out of Harris's conduct with young persons employed at his racing yard”.

Harris began training in 2001 and was absent from the training ranks from 2011 to 2018 due to financial issues.

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Baffert, Zedan Drop Appeal of Medina Spirit Disqualification

Trainer Bob Baffert took to X late Monday afternoon to report that he has told his legal team to drop the appeal to the result of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, from which Zedan Racing Stable's Medina Spirit (Protonico) was disqualified for a betamethasone positive.

The post read: “I have instructed my attorneys to dismiss the appeal related to the disqualification of Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Zedan Racing owner, Amr Zedan, and I have decided that it is best to positively focus on the present and future that our great sport offers. We thank the KHRC (Kentucky Horse Racing Commission) and Churchill Downs for listening and considering our point of view and we are grateful for the changes and clarity that HISA brings to our sport.”

Ever since Medina Spirit was disqualified over the positive for the medication betamethasone, Baffert and Zedan have tried to have the disqualification overturned. Their primary argument was that the medication got into the horse's system through a topical cream used to combat skin rashes. Baffert and Zedan's lawyers would eventually build more than two years of court cases and administrative appeals around the contention that the betamethasone that showed up in Medina Spirit's post-race positive test was the type that came from a permissible topical ointment and not via some other restricted means, like an intra-articular injection.

In September, Zedan and Baffert filed a petition for a judicial review of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commissions's disqualification of the colt from his win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The petition was filed in Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky and also includes a protest over Baffert's suspension in Kentucky.  Zedan and Baffert claim in the petition that the “laboratory limit of detection” used to identify betamethasone in Medina Spirit “is contrary to the plain terms of KHRC regulations and is void as arbitrary and capricious.”

They also argued that KHRC's exercise of rule making and adjudicatory powers is illegal and that the penalties against Zedan “are unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious.”

One month earlier, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) closed the 27-month regulatory saga involving Medina Spirit's Kentucky Derby drug disqualification by unanimously voting to deny appeals by trainer Baffert and Zedan Racing Stables while accepting a hearing officer's recommended order that the penalties originally imposed by the Churchill Downs stewards be affirmed in their entirety. From there, Zedan and Baffert began to try to win their case through the courts.

“The KHRC did what it does best–rubber stamped its own foregone conclusion. I will discuss with Mr. Baffert, but believe it is highly likely the matter is appealed so that it can finally be presented to an impartial Court,” Baffert attorney W. Craig Robertson III said at the time.

It was not clear Monday why Zedan and Baffert apparently changed their minds and decided to drop their case.

It is possible that their dropping the case was a peace offering in what has been an ugly battle between Churchill Downs and Zedan and Baffert that at times took on a personal tone. Churchill first banned Baffert from the 2022 and 2023 Derby. In a surprising move, Churchill announced in July that the Baffert ban was being extended until at least Dec. 31, 2024.

“Mr. Baffert continues to peddle a false narrative concerning the failed drug test of Medina Spirit,” Churchill said at the time in a statement.

Churchill also recently announced that any horse trained by someone banned by the track (Baffert is believed to be the only one under such a suspension) will be ineligible to compete in the Derby if still in that trainers barn as of Jan. 29.

Throughout the dispute, there was widespread speculation that Churchill's harsh treatment of Baffert was in response to the lawsuits. With those lawsuits now having been dropped, it will be interesting to see how Churchill reacts and what doors might open for Baffert and his owners.

Following the news that the case had been dropped, Churchill Downs officials said that the development would have no bearing on Baffert's current status. “Today's dismissal of appeal does not change the current suspension or deadline to transfer horses for the upcoming 150th Kentucky Derby,” read a statement forwarded by Churchill's Darren Rogers.

 

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