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CHRB Issues Advisory

Scott Chaney, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB)'s executive director, issued the following advisory on Sept. 21:

“On April 21, 2021, the amended language to Rule 1588 (Horse Ineligible to Start in a Race) became effective. More specifically, that rule requires that in order to run, a horse must be on the grounds of a CHRB inclosure and in the care of a licensed trainer for seven days prior to the race.

Horses cannot leave the grounds during this seven day period except to travel on a van between CHRB inclosures.

In other words, within 7 days of a race, horses are not permitted to go to a farm, clinic, or any place other than CHRB inclosures. Violation of this rule can result in a scratch and sanction for the responsible licensees.”

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SoCal Dates Set; Cal Expo Could Race Nights in ’23

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday approved a 2023 schedule for the Southern California circuit that largely mirrors this year's version.

A final vote on the Northern California schedule was put off until the CHRB's October meeting.

But one new idea floated for the NorCal circuit during the Sep. 15 meeting could involve the Cal Expo state fair meet running either twilight or night programs next year.

Concerns over dangerously high temperatures during July, when Cal Expo is expected to receive its three-week block of dates, were cited by CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales as a reason for moving away from afternoon first posts.

The Sacramento track is already equipped with lights for the harness meet that it conducts in other parts of the year.

“We are prepared to help the industry, as we have in the past,” said Rick Pickering, the chief executive officer and general manager for the California Exposition and State Fair, adding that Thursday was the first time any NorCal stakeholders or CHRB members have approached him about running under the lights.

“The top priority for us is the safety of the people, the jockeys, the racing individuals, and the safety of the horses. If that's what it takes to have the best possible safe meet, let's take a look at that and see what it takes to make it actually happen,” Pickering said.

Pickering said that there are no evening concerts that use the horse racing grandstand during the fair, and although fireworks shows are sometimes scheduled, they begin at 10 p.m., presumably after racing would be finished for the night.

“Heat is something we're paying attention to. And if that's what we need to do to keep the animals and the people safe, your state fair wants to be cutting edge. We don't want to be, 'We thought about it after the fact.'”

The CHRB annually awards its race dates weekly blocks that determine simulcasting privileges. An issue that arose Thursday was which SoCal track would get those privileges during the non-racing cushion week between the county fair meet at Los Alamitos and Del Mar.

Recently, Del Mar has been awarded the simulcasting designation for that time slot, and it will again retain that week in '23.

But the board did include language in its approved motion that could shift one week of simulcasting privileges to Los Alamitos in 2024. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a July week and could come elsewhere in the calendar year, the CHRB discussed.

Gonzales altered his motion to approve '23 SoCal race dates so it stated, “with an amendment that in 2024 the intent of the board will be to award a dark week with that revenue stream to Los Alamitos.”

The vote on the SoCal dates was 6-1, with commissioner Wendy Mitchell opposing.

Prior to the vote, Mitchell had expressed concerns about making guarantees to license applicants about what the board might vote on for 2024.

“I would like us to look at the two-year calendar versus kind of just doing this ad hoc when [track applicants] pitch a hissy fit,” Mitchell said.

So the '23 SoCal schedule will be as follows (again, with dates allocations in blocks, and actual race dates to be approved by the CHRB just prior to each meet):

Santa Anita-Dec. 21, 2022 to June 20, 2023

Los Alamitos (LA County Fair)-June 21 to July 11

Del Mar-July 12 to Sept. 12

Los Alamitos-Sept. 13 to 26

Santa Anita-Sept. 27 to Nov. 7

Del Mar-Nov. 8 to Dec. 5

Los Alamitos-Dec. 6 to 19

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Blea to Return As California Equine Medical Director Sept. 21

Jeff Blea, on administrative leave from his post as California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) equine medical director since early January after the California Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) successfully petitioned to have his license temporarily suspended, is set to officially return to the position Sept. 21 having reached a settlement with the VMB, according to Michael Casey, Blea's attorney.

As a condition of the settlement, Blea is required to undergo continuing education classes in record keeping, Casey said. Blea will also be on a three-year probationary period.
“If you look at the disciplinary guidelines, probationary periods are required for record keeping or really any violation, so, it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that there is a probationary period,” said Casey.

Casey was unable to offer any further information when pressed about the circumstances surrounding Blea's suspension.

In pushing for the interim suspension, the veterinary medical board had charged Blea with various alleged violations, including prescribing, dispensing, and administering medications without performing a proper examination and diagnosis.

The TDN conducted an investigation into the accusations against Blea and found a consensus among several prominent equine veterinarians around the country that the case amounted largely to relatively minor record keeping violations, those typically resulting in fines.

The settlement order has not yet been posted on the VMB's website. The TDN reached out to the California Department of Consumer Affairs for comment but didn't receive a response before deadline.

The CHRB also had no comment prior to publication, but it had hitherto thrown its support behind Blea, and had asked the VMB to withdraw its petition for the interim suspension.

The genesis of this story ostensibly traces back to February of 2021, when the veterinary medical board allegedly received an anonymous complaint concerning the “unsafe treatment of equine patients” by multiple Californian racetrack veterinarians.

On Dec. 17, the veterinary board lodged formal accusations against Blea, accusing him of several violations, including allegedly prescribing, dispensing, and administering medications to racehorses without establishing a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, without performing an examination, and without forming a diagnosis.

At an emergency hearing on Christmas Eve, the veterinary board successfully petitioned an interim suspension of Blea's veterinary license.

The medical board's action to temporarily suspend Blea's license was a rare move, typically reserved for veterinarians charged with some of the more egregious veterinary and professional offenses, and those deemed an imminent danger to the animals in their care.

Blea had not actively practiced veterinary medicine since July of 2021, when he assumed the role of equine medical director.

In arguing the suspension, the medical board also referenced the recent sudden death of the Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit on Dec. 6, and the horse's ongoing postmortem examination, arguing that Blea presented a danger to “public health, safety and welfare” were he to continue in his role as equine medical director.

The TDN conducted an investigation earlier this year into the board's accusations against Blea, asking whether other events that had occurred around that time–including Medina Spirit's sudden death–rendered the veterinary board's actions more political theater than medical necessity.

The investigation found a consensus among eight veterinary medical experts who described the accusations largely as matters that rarely, if ever, rise to the level of a suspended license, and that the board had misrepresented the unique nature of veterinary practice on the backstretch where veterinarians with multiple barns under their care can build the sort of daily relationship with their animals typically absent from traditional small animal practice.

“We might not even fine him for this,” said Eric Peterson, former member of the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Board, at the time.

Since Jan. 12 when UC Davis–which contracts out to the medical director position to the CHRB–officially placed Blea on administrative leave pending a formal review of his license, his professional status has essentially remained in limbo, having had to temporarily step away from his other professional affiliations, including his post on the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's committee on Anti-Doping and Medication Control.

Come Sept. 21, there will be “no restrictions on his involvement with any veterinary organization and I fully anticipate Jeff will be back serving the equine community in all capacities where his knowledge and skill will continue to focus on equine safety and welfare,” wrote Casey, in a follow-up text.

The settlement does not put an end to the veterinary medical board's scrutiny of veterinary practices across racetrack backstretches in California.

The VMB is involved in ongoing cases against veterinarians Kim Kuhlmann, Steven Boyer and Kenneth Allison in Northern California, and against veterinarians Sarah Graybill Jones and Vince Baker in Southern California.

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Alleging ‘Destroyed’ Reputation, Baltas Sues CHRB for $12 Million

Claiming that the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) has “destroyed” his reputation as a trainer by issuing a 47-count complaint pertaining to the alleged race-day administration of substances to his horses and then purportedly violating his rights to due process when he tried to resolve the charges, Richard Baltas is suing the CHRB, its commissioners, and executive director for at least $12 million in damages.

According to a lawsuit filed Aug. 17 in Superior Court for the State of California (Los Angeles County), the lawsuit also stated that the CHRB has additionally allegedly not complied in full with Baltas's legal attempts to proceed with discovery of materials related to his case, “thereby forcing Baltas to proceed with information and documents that are being withheld and concealed from him…”

The CHRB's June 21 complaint stated that “Between the dates of 4/15/2022 to 5/8/2022, 23 horses trained by RICHARD BALTAS were administered a substance on days they were entered into races. Surveillance video captured all administrations by employees of BALTAS's barn. The substance was analyzed by University of California, Davis, who reported the presence of Higenamine and Paenol.”

According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), higenamine is a chemical found in a variety of plants, and can act as an anti-asthmatic to open up airways. Paenol is also a plant extract. Neither are specifically classified by the Association for Racetrack Commissioners International uniform classification guidelines.

The lawsuit continued: “None of the counts in the CHRB Complaint are valid, and each of them reflect a malicious intent by the Defendants.”

Last month, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge denied a request by Baltas to order the CHRB to allow him to enter horses. The next scheduled action in that separate case is a Sept. 29 conference.

In this new lawsuit, Baltas is alleging that his due process rights were violated as guaranteed under CHRB rules, the 14th Amendment to the United State Constitution, and Article 1, Section 7 of the California Constitution.

Reached via email on Thursday, CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten responded to a request for comment on the just-filed suit by writing, “We have not received anything new, so the only matter we are involved in civilly with Mr. Baltas is [the already pending] matter.”

Baltas's Aug. 17 lawsuit gave the following timeline of events:

“Baltas had a horse called Noble Reflection scheduled to run in the 10th race at Santa Anita Park on May 8, 2022. A few hours before the race, one of Baltas' employees were seen on videotape administering an oral dose syringe into the horse's mouth.

“A syringe was subsequently recovered from a feed bag that was tested and had allegedly traces of Higenamine and Paeonol, which are organic liquids that are found naturally in Chinese herbs. Notably, after Noble Reflection was scratched from the race, it was tested and the test results were 'clean,' and neither Higenamine nor Paeonol were found in the horse.

“Based on the film footage of Noble Reflection, Santa Anita went back and reviewed footage of Baltas' trained horses from earlier dates and allegedly found 22 other times when a Baltas employee squirted a substance in a horse's mouth.

“Unlike the situation with Noble Reflection, there was no syringe found in the other 21 instances to be tested. Instead, the CHRB assumed the substance in the other 22 cases going back to April 15, 2022, was the same that was found in or on the outside of the syringe found on May 8, 2022. None of the 21 horses that raced ever tested positive for a Controlled or Prohibited Substance.

“On May 10, 2022, the Santa Anita and/or the CHRB and its agents went back retroactively to review videotaped footage of Baltas's horses from April 15, 2022, up through May 8, 2022, and allegedly saw 22 horses trained by Baltas receiving an orally administered liquid that they contend was X-Treme Air Boost, which is a product advertised for use in horses in the Santa Anita Condition Book.

“The CHRB has never explained its decision for going back in time to find violations in the past, and its conduct demonstrates that they and/or the Defendants herein intended to target Ballas to find as many violations as possible. Such conduct demonstrates malice and oppression on the part of the CHRB and its Agents.

“Although no syringe was located in the 22 other cases, the CHRB assumed the product was X-Treme Air Boost…. Because the ingredients in question are food which are expressly excepted under Rule 1843.5; that is they are not within the Statue or any ruling of this Court.

“Based on these facts, on May 10, 2022, Aidan Butler, [acting] on behalf of Santa Anita, notified Baltas that he was prevented from entering any horses at Santa Anita.

“On June 22, 2022, the CHRB filed an Ex Parte Application with the Stewards at the Los Alamitos Racetrack to refuse the entry of two horses trained by Baltas…. The Stewards at Los Alamitos summarily denied these two entrees without a hearing or any form of due process. The denial constituted a de facto summary suspension…

“Baltas has not been allowed to enter a horse in the State of California from May 8, 2022 through the present date, causing him harm. On June 29, 2022, Churchill Downs issued a de facto suspension to Ballas, a decision made, once again, without any due process. Baltas was treated by the Churchill Downs and the 23 Defendants as 'guilty,' based solely on an allegation, and without any consideration to the alleged harm he would suffer.

“Before June 21, 2022, [CHRB] Executive Director Scott Chaney represented [to Baltas] that any complaint filed by the CHRB against Baltas would not contain alleged violations related to prohibited substances.

“Then on June 21, 2022, the CHRB filed a 47-count complaint which, much to the surprise of [Baltas], not only contained 23 counts of violations of CHRB Rule I 843.5, but, contrary to the representations made by Chaney on behalf of the CHRB, but also contained 23 counts of violations of [the absolute insurer rule] which included references to Higenamine and Paeonol, plus one count of a violation of…Conduct Detrimental to Horse Racing.

“As a result of the CHRB's conduct, [the inability to enter horses has cost Baltas] many thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, and [he] stands to lose many millions of dollars in damages in an amount to be determined at jury trial for lost earnings, the loss of clients who entrusted their horses training to him, and an irrevocable damage to his reputation.”

The lawsuit termed the CHRB's actions as “wildly excessive and disparate to any other trainer punishment imposed by the CHRB, and was obviously punitive in nature in that it would effectively terminate Baltas' career as a trainer. Others facing similar charges arising out of CHRB Rule 1843.5 in the past received far more lenient sentences, including monetary fines in lieu of a year-long license suspension.”

According to the lawsuit, Baltas arrived at the $12-million figure by combining $10 million in “special compensatory damages for monies already lost and for future damages in an amount commensurate with what Baltas would have earned if his reputation was not destroyed,” plus $2 million for “general damages in the form of emotional and psychological distress, pain and suffering, anxiety, stress, depression, worry, inconvenience.”

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