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Judge Rules In Favor Of Ruis Racing In Lawsuit Over Justify’s Santa Anita Derby Victory

The following press release was issued on Friday, Dec. 10, by Carlo Fisco and Darrell Vienna, attorneys for horse owner Mick Ruis and Ruis Racing, who sued the California Horse Racing Board over the regulatory agency's decision not to file a complaint for a medication violation in the case of 2018 Santa Anita Derby winner Justify. The eventual Triple Crown winner was found to have the prohibited drug scopolamine in his system after a post-race sample was tested, but the board voted in executive session to have the matter dropped, with no complaint filed against trainer Bob Baffert and no consideration of a purse disqualification for Justify.

Ruis Racing owned Bolt d'Oro, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, who would have been in line for the race's $600,000 first-place purse (he earned $200,000 for second).

Press Release:

This morning, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff overruled the CHRB's attempt to have the purse disqualification matter dismissed involving the horse Justify and allowed the matter to go forward. Ruis Racing LLC has alleged that the CHRB's failure to disqualify Justify from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby after testing positive for a prohibited substance was a violation of its own mandatory rules.

Ruis Racing attorneys Carlo Fisco and Darrell Vienna were encouraged by today's decision and look forward to finally bringing this matter to trial. Carlo Fisco stated: “We have a long way to go but are pleased that the court confirmed our client's undeniable claim in pursuing this case. Today was a technical hurdle introduced by the CHRB in attempt to escape its responsibility for the Justify debacle. We remain confident that the trial on this matter will expose the legal improprieties of the former CHRB Board and its former Equine Medical Director as well as the utter refusal by the CHRB Board of Stewards to correct an obvious injustice.”

Trial is expected to occur in mid-2022.

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Report: Medina Spirit Samples Will Go To More Than One Lab

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that test samples from Medina Spirit, who died suddenly on Monday, will be tested by multiple laboratories. The University of California-Davis laboratory will conduct the actual necropsy, but writer John Cherwa revealed samples will be sent to labs outside the set for “a fresh set of eyes and compare to the conclusions arrived at UC Davis.”

Medina Spirit collapsed following a timed workout at Santa Anita Park for trainer Bob Baffert, and died quickly with no obvious outward sign of anything amiss. In these cases of “sudden death,” Cherwa writes that more tests and evaluations may be needed as compared to deaths as a result of musculoskeletal injuries or known illness. This could mean the complete findings could take as long as two or three months.

The LA Times also noted interest in the case by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who called for a “thorough and transparent examination” into the horse's death. Feinstein was one of the elected officials who put pressure on the racetrack during the 2019 spike in equine fatalities at Santa Anita.

CHRB: Medina Spirit Samples Will Be Preserved After Necropsy, Per Standard Procedure

After the untimely death of Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Medina Spirit earlier this week, the California Horse Racing Board informed media that the colt's body would undergo a necropsy — the animal form of an autopsy — as per CHRB policy for all equine deaths that happen on sanctioned properties. According to Dr. Jeff Blea, equine medical director for the CHRB, that procedure will include toxicology, forensics and tissue sampling. Blood and hair samples were removed from the colt's body and in the minutes after the colt's death, Blea said veterinarians on-site were planning to try to obtain a urine sample from the body as well.

Some readers have since wondered whether any of the samples taken as part of the procedure may be preserved for future testing. According to a statement from the CHRB made to the Paulick Report Dec. 8, that is part of standard protocols for all equine necropsies in the state.

“The CHRB has a post-race retention policy for official post-race samples,” said CHRB spokesman Mike Marten. “Under Rule 1859, samples are frozen and retained for possible retrospective analysis. The samples from Medina Spirit have been retained.

“Additionally, regarding separate necropsy samples, fresh/frozen tissues are usually kept for three months, Formalin fixed tissues for five years, and paraffin blocks and slides forever.”

The final report on the horse's death will be made public.

Medina Spirit had just completed a five-furlong workout Monday morning when rider Juan Ochoa felt a change in the Bob Baffert trainee just past the wire and began pulling the horse up. Blea said the colt, owned by Zedan Stables, had already fallen and died when attending veterinarians got to him. Ochoa was uninjured.

Roughly 15 percent of on-track deaths in California are these so-called “sudden deaths” which are not connected to an musculoskeletal injury or illness and happen with no outward signs of anything amiss. Experts suspect many of them are attributable to cardiac problems, but the exact cause can be elusive. Necropsies in these cases can sometimes identify a physical abnormality in a horse's heart, but sometimes the veterinary pathologist is unable to find anything unusual.

Read more about what the goals of a necropsy program in this 2017 Paulick Report feature.

It remains unclear whether The Stronach Group will conduct an independent investigation apart from the CHRB's fact-finding surrounding the horse's death.

“We are awaiting the results of the CHRB investigation and we will wait until the conclusion of that process,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for 1/ST Racing. “We are, however, providing any and all information we have to the CHRB.”

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CHRB Settlement: John Sadler Fined $5,000 Over 2020 Bisphosphonate Positive

Trainer John Sadler has been fined $5,000 by the California Horse Racing Board, according to a ruling published on Friday, relating to his trainee Flagstaff testing positive for clodronic acid, a bisphosphonate sold under the brand name Osphos, in a post-race sample after finishing second in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes on Sept. 27, 2020, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Bisphosphonates are a class of drug approved by the FDA in 2014 and prescribed to prevent bone loss in people and to treat navicular syndrome in horses, a common cause of forelimb lameness. The drug is not approved for horses less than four years old.

Equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood & Riddle warned about the use of bisphosphonates Osphos and Tildren in young horses during a client education seminar in 2018, saying the drug can have unintended, detrimental side effects. Many racing states moved to ban the drugs.

The CHRB banned bisphosphonates effective July 1, 2020, saying that any horse administered the drug in the previous six months – effectively a cutoff date of Jan. 1, 2020 – was prohibited from stabling on CHRB regulated grounds.

When the positive test was first made public in May, Sadler's attorney Darrell Vienna said Flagstaff was legally treated with Osphos on an unspecified date “late in 2019,” when Flagstaff was 5 years old. Vienna cited the extended half life of Osphos as an explanation for the positive test, saying it can linger in a horse's system for many months or even longer than a year.

Flagstaff was ordered unplaced in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship by a ruling released on June 19, 2021.

Friday's ruling specifies that Sadler entered into a settlement agreement with the CHRB, and that the fine is for violation of rule #1867.1(b), which states: “No licensee shall bring into a CHRB enclosure a horse known to have been administered a bisphosphonate within the previous six months.”

At the time the positive was announced, clodronic acid was not included on the CHRB's current list of prohibited substances, so under the regulatory body's rules it automatically falls under the most severe drug category, Class 1. Today, current CHRB regulations list bisphosphonates as Drug Class C, Penalty Category A.

Penalty Category A requires a one-year suspension, absent mitigating circumstances, along with a minimum fine of $10,000, again absent mitigating circumstances. Owners face loss of purse and potential placement of a horse on the vet's list for up to 90 days.

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