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Baffert Reveals New Details About Medina Spirit Case In Day 4 Of NYRA Hearing

Testimony continued Jan. 27 in the hearing held by the New York Racing Association to determine whether it can suspend trainer Bob Baffert. NYRA had rested its case Jan. 26, and Thursday's session was comprised of witnesses called by Baffert's attorneys, including Dr. Clara Fenger, board member of the North American Association of Racetrack Veterinarians (NAARV), Dr. Steven Barker, formerly laboratory director for Louisiana's post-race drug testing laboratory, and Baffert himself.

Part of Thursday's proceedings would appear to have previewed Baffert's side of the case in the drug positive of Medina Spirit following the Kentucky Derby. During cross examination, Baffert confirmed that a hearing in the case has been scheduled with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for Feb. 7.

Baffert and the other witnesses Thursday made reference to the results of extra drug testing on remaining urine samples taken from Medina Spirit by Dr. George Maylin, head of the drug testing laboratory for the New York State Gaming Commission. According to a statement from Maylin read into the record, testing on those samples revealed the presence of betamethasone valerate, which is present in Otomax but not in the injectable form of betamethasone given to horses. It did not reveal the presence of betamethasone acetate, which is the form of the drug that's used in injectable products for horses. The tests also purportedly revealed the presence of clotrimazole, an anti-fungal medication which is also present in Otomax.

Baffert has said Medina Spirit's positive test was the result of Otomax treatment for a troublesome skin rash on the horse's hindquarters. He said on Thursday that the rash was at various times also on the horse's girth area and neck. Initially, Baffert said veterinarian Dr. Vince Baker suggested using a couple of shampoos to try, and when those didn't work on the rash, Baker prescribed Otomax and Dermacloth. Dermacloth is an over-the-counter grooming wipe product designed to combat certain types of skin problems in horses.

Baffert has previously said the rash appeared some time after the Santa Anita Derby, several weeks before the colt's victory in Louisville. He has also said the Otomax treatment ended the day before the Kentucky Derby.

Baffert said one of his first calls after learning about the test was to Baker, but that Baker did not suggest to him that Otomax could be the source of the betamethasone until Monday afternoon, the day after Baffert's press conference announcing the positive test. Baffert represented that Baker was as surprised as Baffert was by the positive test. Baffert said that after Gamine tested positive for the same drug following the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, he ordered his veterinarians to stop using betamethasone for joint injections and that he wanted the drug “out of my barn” after that.

The ointment was applied by a groom, according to Baffert.

Additional highlights from Thursday:

Both Barker and Fenger testified that the concentrations of the therapeutic medications found in Baffert's horses for the period of time in question could not have had an impact on the horses' performance, or any therapeutic impact on the horses themselves. This is in conflict with Dr. Pierre-Louis Toutain, the expert called by NYRA, who testified on Tuesday regarding betamethasone and phenylbutazone.
Fenger opined that in many states, the first two violations in question in NYRA's charges, both overages in California for phenylbutazone within a week of each other in summer 2019, would normally have been combined into one ruling. It is common practice in some places to combine violations that occur close together because the commission may not have had the chance to notify the trainer about the first violation before subsequent ones occur, thereby preventing the trainer's ability to change their medication or barn management plans.
Maylin and Fenger, who worked together on the additional testing of the Medina Spirit samples, used two research horses to help develop new tests for the components of Otomax. Maylin intends to submit some of his findings to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
Fenger also questioned the science behind Kentucky's betamethasone threshold, pointing out that it was developed from a study conducted on research horses rather than active racehorses.

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On cross examination from an attorney for NYRA, Fenger was asked about a technique Maylin has described that he said was designed to keep lidocaine or drugs like it localized in an area where it may be injected. Attorney Kelly McNamee said Maylin has testified to the addition of an oil depot and a vasoconstrictor like adrenaline to keep lidocaine from disappearing as quickly from tissues where it's been placed. McNamee never connected that method with anything Baffert has been accused of using. Fenger said she was not familiar with that kind of procedure being used in horses.
Veterinary records from Baffert's barn show “a lot” of his horses around the time of the 2019 bute violations were given bute two days ahead of a race, according to McNamee. Fenger said this practice, called “pre-racing,” is not standard for all trainers, but is also not unusual and is done even when the horse is not showing signs of soreness or lameness.
Barker testified to his concern that increased sensitivity of drug testing in racing will eventually result in more damage than benefit to racing.“It's unfortunate that such insignificant findings can result in prosecution,” said Barker, referring specifically to a finding of dextrorphan in Baffert runner Merneith in July 2020. “The mere presence of a drug does not necessarily result from nefarious action … rather than protect the integrity of the sport, such prosecutions continue to damage the image of the industry and trainers, owners, and horses. It is also unfortunate that the state of California does not rely on the review of such data by qualified equine pharmacologists.”
Barker also said that he is not surprised Baffert, who has a large number of winners and therefore a large number of tested horses, has a number of positive findings. Under the current scheme, Barker said only 20 percent or so of horses in any given jurisdiction are ever tested, which means the rate of positives would be about five times higher if every horse were tested.“The idea that the more successful you are, the more likely you are to go to the test barn, the more likely you are to have trace levels of these drugs detected,” he said.Attorneys for NYRA said Baffert has been cited and paid fines on 14 separate occasions for Bute overages, though that figure may include his time spent training Quarter Horses.
Baffert admitted that his media tour after announcing Medina Spirit's betamethasone test was probably a mistake, and regretted using the “cancel culture” phrase that appeared in so many headlines after he referenced it on the Dan Patrick Show.“I probably shouldn't have used 'cancel culture,'” he said. “I should've just said knee jerk. The 'cancel culture' was a bad move on my part.”At the time of his mainstream media interviews that week, Baffert said he was extremely emotional, and also blamed the compressed timeframe for some of his public relations response. As in the Arkansas cases of Gamine and Charlatan, Baffert said someone had leaked the drug test results for Medina Spirit to the media, which forced his announcement about the positive in a press conference held outside his barn at Churchill Downs. He did not speculate on the origin of the leak.
Baffert also testified that he did not hear from NYRA with any questions or clarifications regarding the Medina Sprit case or any of the other drug positives at issue in the time leading up to the racing organization's decision to suspend him.“I was disappointed,” he said. “They were friends of mine. I felt betrayed, in a way. I'd gone up there and really just ran my horses. I wasn't there long, but I always showed up and ran all those races and for them to come out with that, I was a little bit surprised but mostly disappointed.”
Baffert takes issue with NYRA's characterization that he has had six positives in the timeframe cited by the organization. Because Gamine and Charlatan were ultimately restored to their finish positions in their respective races at Oaklawn Park in 2020 and the suspension handed down by the stewards was vacated, Baffert said he does not believe those incidents should count as positives. The official ruling, which was amended by the full Arkansas Racing Commission, still fined him $5,000 for each test in excess of allowable levels.He also maintains that the Kentucky case of Gamine was an unfair one because veterinarian Dr. Ryan Carpenter gave the horse a betamethasone injection 18 days prior to the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, well outside Kentucky's 14-day stand down guideline.
Baffert no longer attributes the lidocaine overages in Charlatan and Gamine at Oaklawn to assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes' use of an over-the-counter pain relief patch. He later learned that a third horse on the same race card had a testable level of a metabolite for the drug in its system, although the level was below the state's threshold for calling positives. He also said he had been told by an official there that there had been another cluster of three or four tests showing levels of lidocaine earlier in the meet, also below the threshold.

The hearing continues on Jan. 28.

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Baffert: Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Has Hearing Scheduled In Medina Spirit Case For Feb. 7

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert confirmed in a Jan. 27 hearing proceeding that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 7 in the case of a positive drug test from Medina Spirit after last year's Kentucky Derby.

The Jan. 27 hearing was part of the ongoing proceeding held by the New York Racing Association before a hearing officer to determine whether NYRA can suspend the trainer on a private property basis.

Baffert did not specify whether the Feb. 7 date was a stewards' hearing or a hearing before the full commission. Stewards' hearings in Kentucky are not open to the public.

Eight days after the Kentucky Derby, Baffert held a press conference to announce that he had been informed Medina Spirit had tested positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone. A split sample test later confirmed the presence of the drug. For many months afterwards, Baffert's legal team worked with drug testing experts to do further examinations of the remainder of the split sample to establish whether the betamethasone came from an injected treatment or a topical administration of Otomax. Attorneys have recently indicated that testing has provided results consistent with exposure to Otomax.

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Credibility Challenged, Former NY Steward Erupts at Baffert Hearing

Under pressure of cross-examination that questioned his credibility, a retired New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) steward launched into a nearly five-minute tirade just before the close of Wednesday's hearing to determine whether the New York Racing Association (NYRA) can exclude trainer Bob Baffert over alleged “detrimental conduct.”

Voice cracking with emotion and punctuating points by banging his fist on the witness table, Stephen Lewandowski, who served as the state steward at NYRA tracks between 2014 and 2019, lost his cool after testifying in support of Baffert and then facing terse questioning from a NYRA lawyer who wanted to establish that Lewandowski was being selectively forgetful about his previous dealings with a Baffert controversy.

NYRA's lead attorney also wanted to get it on the record that the former steward had once been put on notice by a state ethics board for allegedly improper post-retirement advocacy on behalf of the controversial banned trainer Richard “Rick” E. Dutrow, Jr., back in 2019.

Lewandowski's outburst, after some 7 1/2 hours of lower-key testimony from seven witnesses, overshadowed remote video appearances by Hall-of-Fame jockeys Mike Smith and John Velazquez, both of whom expressed unwavering support of Baffert.

The eruption also trumped an attempt by Baffert's defense team to get the hearing called off over procedural provisions related to whether NYRA was exceeding its authority as an administrative agency (the hearing proceeded; Baffert's lawyers were bluntly told by hearing officer O. Peter Sherwood to file a post-case brief that he would take under consideration).

For the third straight day, Baffert did not take the witness stand during the Jan. 26 hearing, which despite being conducted in a conference room within the Manhattan offices of NYRA's attorneys, had all the elements of a court trial.

In the morning, Baffert could be seen via the Zoom feed wearing a blue sport coat, blue dress shirt and jeans, tapping his feet in a fidgety way while sipping from a white coffee mug. But by the end of the day any signs of nervous energy had dissipated when Baffert was shown at the respondent's table alongside his attorneys right before adjournment of another long day of testimony.

NYRA is charging that Baffert's alleged conduct is or has been “detrimental” to three entities: 1) The best interests of racing; 2) The health and safety of horses and jockeys; 3) NYRA's business operations.

NYRA had tried to rule off Baffert back on May 17, 2021, without any sort of due process. But he filed a federal lawsuit that got that ban overturned, and now must go through a newly invented NYRA exclusionary hearing process, at which Medina Spirit's still-not-adjudicated GI Kentucky Derby drug positive and four other recent equine drug infractions are the focal points.

Lewandowski, called as a witness by Clark Brewster, one of Baffert's attorneys, testified that he had never met the Hall of Fame trainer in person until Tuesday. The former steward said he had reached out to Baffert by phone “when this whole [NYRA banishment] process started up, and I offered my support… because I feel he's being unfairly taken advantage of.”

During his time as a steward at NYRA tracks (which included fill-in stints as far back as 2000), Lewandowski said that Baffert “never, never, never, never had any problems in New York. Never. The only thing I could ever possibly remember is that maybe his owners needed a license,” which he described as a minor difficulty he helped to correct.

But when NYRA attorney Hank Greenberg took over for cross-examination, he tried to jog Lewandowski's memory by asking him no fewer than five different ways if he was sure that Baffert had never been involved with a controversial issue that the stewards had to deal with.

“Not in connection with Bob Baffert, no,” Lewandowski affirmed.

Greenberg then asked him to specifically recall the 2018 GI Belmont S. That race, of course, was memorable for the Baffert-trained Justify winning the Triple Crown.

But it was also notable for assertions that Restoring Hope, an uncoupled stablemate of Justify, was sent for speed while taken very wide into the first turn before abruptly cutting down to secure a position to the outside of Justify's flank. It appeared to some observers that Restoring Hope was acting as a “wing man” or “blocker” to escort the on-the-lead Justify to victory.

In addition, rival owner Mike Repole subsequently implored the stewards to investigate possible jockeys' collusion based on the rider of his own horse, Noble Indy, not following instructions to vie for the lead. Repole had also said at the time that Restoring Hope was ridden more like “an offensive lineman than a racehorse trying to win the Belmont.”

Brewster could see where this was going, and protested “This is nonsense!” several times before the hearing officer allowed the race replay to be shown.

Yet Lewandowski continued to maintain that he didn't recall any controversy, couldn't remember any owners complaining, couldn't recollect discussing the situation with the two other stewards, didn't remember later interviewing an involved jockey, and drew a blank about ever speaking to the press about the controversy involving Baffert's horse.

Greenberg then presented him with news clippings about the non-investigation, and asked the now-flustered Lewandowski to read his own quotes about it to refresh his memory.

Yet Greenberg did not dwell on that one point. He quickly pivoted to bring up Lewandowski's support of Dutrow, who in 2011 was suspended 10 years and fined $50,000 by the NYSGC's predecessor agency after one of his Aqueduct winners tested positive for an opioid analgesic and syringes containing a painkiller and a sedative were found in Dutrow's stable office.

Lewandowski had retired in June 2019. Five months later, he wrote a letter to the NYSGC and the Queens District Attorney stating that Dutrow's penalties were too tough and alleging that, “Mr. Braulio Baeza Jr., the NYRA Steward at the time… told me on numerous occasions that evidence against Mr. Dutrow was planted…”

That letter found its way into published news reports. Baeza denied he ever said such a thing. The NYSGC issued a press release to denounce Lewandowski's assertions.

And, according Greenberg, the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) sent Lewandowski a letter putting him on notice that former state employees were not supposed to appear before their former agencies to advocate on behalf of anyone or anything for a two-year period after they left their jobs.

Lewandowski replied to Greenberg by stating that he had “no knowledge” of any JCOPE investigation into that. “No one informed me–sort of what NYRA did with Bob [Baffert]–that this was going on,” he said. “So I got a letter saying…they chose not to punish me or pursue this any further. They found no reason to do it.”

Greenberg had that letter too. He brought it out and began quoting form it to ask Lewandowski if he recalled that it stated his advocating for clemency on behalf of Dutrow “implicates post-employment restrictions that apply to former state employees, specifically the two-year ban.”

And that's when the former state steward let loose with a rambling, under-oath diatribe reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart's courtroom portrayal of the under-duress Captain Queeg in the 1954 film “The Caine Mutiny.”

“I got no punishment. I didn't even know it was going on. How about that? How could they run [an investigation] without even speaking to me? How can they do that? Well, I know. NYRA does the same thing. They just decide to suspend Bob Baffert and not even speak to him. You think that's right? You're an attorney. Do you?” Lewandowski challenged Greenberg.

“Do you think if I conduct an investigation about you and not [ask you] what the circumstances are that that's right? That's what you're doing with Bob Baffert. You're suspending him without even speaking to him…. How about asking him about charges in Kentucky that haven't even been filed yet? If I was him, I wouldn't answer the question!” Lewandowski snarled.

The outburst continued (repetitive parts have been omitted here):

“[Baffert is] testifying in two hearings now. How could you do that to somebody? A person that was so kind to show his [Triple Crown] horses to everybody. Everybody! Including all of NYRA's executives. All of them went down there. Bob pulled [American Pharoah and Justify] out and took pictures with them and did all that. And I never went down there. Why? Because I felt it was improper for me to do that. It wasn't right…

“And another thing with Rick Dutrow. I never spoke to him until I retired. I called up [a NYSGC executive] and I said, 'How does Rick Dutrow go about reapplying? How does he do it?'…. And so it took six months to get an answer from the gaming commission. Who's responsible? Their job is to protect and to help people like [Dutrow], not hurt him. It's their job, that's what they're supposed to do, make it for the people!”

The conference room remained silent while Lewandowski kept going on about the NYSGC's alleged wrongdoing of Dutrow.

“Nowhere and no-how has [there] ever been [such strict penalization]–10 years and $50,000! And you know another thing? They took his $50,000…. They took his $50,000 and then told him–the was a man who was totally destroyed, had no money, nothing, completely broke–and they made him pay $50,000 and then told him forget about [being reinstated]. You know what that's like? I had the opportunity to do that, but I would never do that to a licensee. I would never take your money when I know you can't work…”

This portion of Lewandowski's venting eventually took up three full minutes.

At which point, Greenberg calmly asked, “Are you done?”

NYRA's lawyer certainly wasn't finished. Greenberg couldn't resist getting Lewandowski going again with another simple question: “Braulio Baeza–is he a good man?”

Lewandowski roared back to life: “Braulio Baeza–one of us is lying! Either Braulio Baeza or me. Are you accusing me of lying?…If you think I'm lying, then just accuse me of lying. Are you calling me a liar? Are you calling me a liar sir? Are you calling me a liar? I am not a liar!…

“One of us had information to help a former [trainer] who was wiped out, sir. Wiped out! They wiped him out! They took 200 horses away from him and he was out of business the next day. They didn't even give him the right to come on the track and pay his help! He was out of business. Done. Finished…. Wiped a person out! That's what you're about? That's what you're representing?…Are you accusing me of lying? I'm asking you a question!”

The hearing officer informed Lewandowski that's “the way it works around here…The lawyer gets to ask the questions.”

After Greenberg yielded his cross-examination, Brewster came back up to address a final point related to Baffert being allegedly unfairly targeted by NYRA. It was a quietly emphatic one that might have been worth having his witness's credibility picked apart.

“All these things [Greenberg] said that were so bad about this trainer, Rick Dutrow. Did NYRA seek to suspend Rick Dutrow?” Brewster asked.

“No,” Lewandowski replied.

“In your career, did you ever see NYRA take after a trainer such as [with Baffert], that never had a violation in New York?” Brewster asked.

“No,” Lewandowski replied, having regained his composure.

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‘Are You Calling Me A Liar, Sir?’ Fireworks On Day 3 of NYRA/Baffert Hearing As Dutrow Case Recalled

Wednesday's session of the ongoing hearing between the New York Racing Association and embattled trainer Bob Baffert finished with fireworks during the testimony of retired New York state steward Stephen Lewandowski.

NYRA concluded the presentation of its case just before lunch, and Baffert's attorneys called their first few witnesses in the afternoon.

Lewandowski was called on behalf of Baffert and, under questioning from Baffert's attorneys, said he had no dealings with Baffert on any integrity or rule violation issues in his time serving as a steward in the state. Lewandowski said he called Baffert sometime after he was suspended by NYRA to offer his support.

“I feel like he's been unfairly taken advantage of,” Lewandowski said. “He's never had any problems in New York.”

On cross examination, NYRA attorney Henry Greenberg questioned that point by Lewandowski, bringing up the controversy about Baffert's non-coupled entry in the 2018 Belmont Stakes. Baffert saddled both Triple Crown winner Justify in that race as well as Restoring Hope, who was piloted by Florent Geroux. Mike Repole, co-owner of Vino Rosso and Noble Indy, would later complain to New York Post writer Tom Pedulla that Geroux put in a “reckless” ride aboard Restoring Hope, possibly in an attempt to block some of Justify's competitors.

Headlines in the Post questioned officials' decision not to launch an investigation into the race. Lewandowski said that he eventually spoke to Repole but also that he did not recall Repole's complaint. He said he did not speak to Baffert about the incident, and said he did not recall subsequent media coverage questioning the stewards' lack of investigation. He also said he did not recall eventually reversing course and speaking to Geroux, nor did he recall a meeting with the other stewards, who Greenberg suggested disagreed with each other on the best way to handle the situation.

Then, Greenberg asked Lewandowski about his support of Rick Dutrow, who was suspended 10 years and fined $50,000 after one of his horses tested positive for butorphanol and three hypodermic needles were discovered in a desk drawer in Dutrow's office. Following his retirement in 2019, Lewandowski wrote a letter to the Gaming Commission and to the Queens County District Attorney saying that Braulio Baeza Jr., then a NYRA steward, told him the syringes were planted.

Baeza later denied he told Lewandowski this.

Baffert attorney Clark Brewster objected to the scope of Greenberg's questions but was overruled by Justice O. Peter Sherwood, the presiding hearing officer. As Greenberg asked about the fallout from Lewandowski's letter, Lewandowski became agitated and began shouting. The New York commission released a statement following publication of Lewandowksi's letter in the media. Lewandowski also said he heard from New York's Joint Commission on Public Ethics, though it's not clear in what capacity.

“How can they run something without even speaking to me?!” Lewandowski cried. “I know, NYRA does the same thing. They just decide to suspend Bob Baffert without even telling him. How is that right? You're an attorney, you tell me. … That's what you're doing to Bob Baffert. How about talking to him about charges in Kentucky that haven't even been filed yet. … If I were him I wouldn't answer any questions. … He's a person who has been so kind as to show his horses to everybody who asked. All of NYRA's executives went down there, and Bob pulled him out and they took pictures with him and did all that.

“I never went down there, and why? I thought it was improper to do that.

“And another thing about Rick Dutrow, I never spoke to him, before, until I retired.”

Lewandowski said he asked about how Dutrow could go about reapplying for a license, and passed that information along.

“It took six months to even get an answer from the Gaming Commission, whose job is to protect people like him, not hurt them,” Lewandowski yelled to Greenberg, who by then had stopped questioning him. “It's their job, that's what they're supposed to do. They're here for the people, not for purses. And nowhere and no how has these charges ever been … 10 years and $50,000 … and you know another thing? They took his $50,000. There was an ongoing push to get Rick Dutrow reinstated. They made him pay $50,000 and then here's a man who's totally destroyed. Has no money. Nothing. He's completely broke. They made him pay $50,000 and then told him he can't be licensed. … I would never do that to a licensee. I would never take your money when I know you can't work.”

As to the dispute in stories between himself and Baeza, Lewandowski let loose.

“Braulio Baeza, one of us is lying. It's either Braulio Baeza or me. Are you accusing me of lying?” yelled Lewandowski. “One of us is lying. Why would Braulio Baeza speak to me about Rick Dutrow, who he had nothing to do with. One of us is lying. And I'm not accusing anybody. But it's either him or me. And believe me, he said it to more than one person.

“…Are you calling me a liar, sir? Are you calling me a liar? I am not a liar … I thought Braulio Baeza was a good man. One of us had the information to help a man who was wiped out.

“…Braulio Baeza is not a nice person, no.”

Wednesday's session also included testimony from NYRA lead equine safety investigator Tony Patricola, NYRA veterinary services director Dr. Anthony Verderosa, general manager of NYRA Bets Matthew Feig, and vice president of marketing for NYRA and NYRA Bets Donald Scott. At the start of Baffert's case, testimony came from Hall of Fame jockeys Mike Smith and John Velazquez.

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Wednesday's session opened with Sherwood chastising Baffert attorney Brewster for providing a statement to media about Tuesday's proceedings. Greenberg entered the Paulick Report's recap of the Jan. 25 hearing into the record because it contained the statement, distributed on behalf of Brewster by public relations and crisis communications firm Trident DMG. Greenberg called the statement “highly unprofessional at best.”You can find the Jan. 25 recap here.
Baffert attorney W. Craig Robertson said he had nothing to do with the statement.

Brewster tried to say Greenberg posted similar content on his firm's website. This publication has not received statements from the firm.

“Fortunately this proceeding is not going forward before a jury,” said Sherwood. “I'd be much more sharp-tongued if we had a jury here, sir. I do think these kinds of comments by a lawyer during a proceeding are inappropriate. I would ask you to restrain yourself.”
NYRA's attorneys had two primary focuses from witnesses on Wednesday: the potential for therapeutic drugs to impact pre-race veterinary examinations and injury, and the public reaction to Baffert's recent high-profile drug positive in the Kentucky Derby. Verderosa and Patricola both testified that therapeutic, permitted medications given outside time regulations could make their jobs more difficult in terms of identifying sore horses. They also testified to the danger posed to jockeys, grooms, and veterinary personnel by catastrophic injuries suffered on track.Baffert's counsel clarified that neither official had fielded complaints or themselves flagged horses for further examination from Baffert's barn on the basis they were unsound. (Baffert is primarily based in California and does not, according to Patricola, maintain a barn in New York year-round.) Robertson also pointed out that this summer, when protestors demonstrated their upset over the equine fatality rate in New York, Baffert did not have any trainees in the list of dead horses.
Both Feig and Scott agreed they received feedback from NYRA Bets customers following Baffert's announcement that Medina Spirit had a positive post-race drug test. Feig in particular cited a 20 percent increase in customer service queries on the day Baffert held his press conference, and continued with an elevated number of requests from players the next day.“We had a lot of questions regarding, 'Are you going to refund my wager because I bet on the second-place horse, Mandaloun?' or 'Are you going to give me the money I'm owed?'” recalled Feig.
Feig said there is no mechanism for NYRA Bets or any of its competitors to refund parimutuel wagers based on a change in race results after the race goes official. To date, Medina Spirit has not been disqualified from the Kentucky Derby.

Feig said he also heard from customers with queries or complaints about other trainers, any time there are headlines about an integrity issue. That includes Linda Rice, who had her license suspended by the New York Gaming Commission but who is still permitted to race at NYRA while she is appealing that case.
Feig also said that in the course of applying for the required licenses for NYRA Bets to take wagers from customers outside New York, the organization gets a fair number of questions from regulators about various aspects of its business, including finances, policy, and integrity proceedings. The organization also deals with banks and credit card companies to enable it to do business. Feig said that he did get questions “in passing” about the Baffert situation after the announcement of Medina Spirit's positive from regulators, financial entities, underwriters, and banking institutions. Regulators did not ask him questions about Rice or Wayne Potts, who is currently being investigated by NYRA.
Robertson was interested in the fact NYRA Bets saw a wagering record during the time Baffert was permitted to run horses at Saratoga. He and Feig examined handle figures for a couple of races in which Baffert trained entrants. Feig pointed out that one was a stakes race, which usually gets higher handle than non-stakes races, and the other was the start of the Pick 5 and Pick 6. Typically, Feig said he projects and analyzes handle based upon the number of entries and the wagering menu for that race; trainer of entrants don't normally factor into his forecasts.
Jockeys Mike Smith and John Velazquez testified on Baffert's behalf, saying they have always felt safe riding his horses and agreeing they would like to ride more for him. Both said they did not believe Baffert is a threat to the integrity of racing, nor have they ever witnessed Baffert do anything against the rules of racing during their time spent in his barn.

The post ‘Are You Calling Me A Liar, Sir?’ Fireworks On Day 3 of NYRA/Baffert Hearing As Dutrow Case Recalled appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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