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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