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Judge Dismisses Baffert’s Lone Remaining Claim Against CDI

A federal judge on Wednesday issued a summary judgment that dismissed trainer Bob Baffert's lone remaining claim in his 15-month-old lawsuit against Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI). The order was handed down three months after the same judge tossed out five other counts in the case that alleged civil rights violations related to the gaming corporation's two-year banishment of the Hall-of-Fame trainer.

“The Court denied Plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissed Plaintiffs' claims for unlawful exclusion, unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade, unlawful use of monopoly power, tortious interference with contractual relations, and tortious interference with prospective business relations,” wrote Judge Rebecca Jennings of United States District Court (Western District of Kentucky) in her May 24 order. “Defendants now move for summary judgment on Plaintiffs' only remaining claim–breach of due process.”

Back on Mar. 14, CDI had argued that, “Because Baffert's due process claim fails as a matter of law…the Court should grant Defendants summary judgment and dismiss Baffert's complaint in its entirety.”

Jennings wrote May 24 that CDI's suspension of Baffert from CDI-owned tracks and the 2022 and 2023 GI Kentucky Derbies did not “devalue” his training license in a manner that amounted to “an indirect deprivation of a property interest.”

“[Baffert's] license was not suspended or revoked by the issuing entity, meaning he must demonstrate an indirect loss in the value of his Kentucky trainer's license. For Plaintiffs to demonstrate that this indirect injury amounted to a violation of due process, they must prove that Baffert's license was rendered valueless…

“Here, the undisputed evidence demonstrates that Baffert's license is not valueless,” Jennings wrote. “While suspended from racing at CDI racetracks, Baffert conceded that he has 'raced horses all around the world with enormous success.'

“The Court cannot find that Baffert's Kentucky trainer's license was rendered valueless when he used it to win over $1 million racing horses in the Commonwealth [at Keeneland]….Therefore, Plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that they were deprived of a property interest–a necessary element of their due process claim,” Jennings wrote.

“Plaintiffs have failed to produce specific evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact that would allow a reasonable jury to find in their favor at trial,” Jennings wrote.

“Because Plaintiffs cannot prevail on the first element of their due process claim, the Court will not continue to examine additional arguments,” Jennings wrote.

CDI first imposed its ruling-off of Baffert in June 2021 because of a string of drug positives in horses Baffert trained, including two in CDI's most prominent races, the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks and the 2021 Derby.

“Judgment is entered in favor of Defendants with respect to the claims brought in this matter,” Jennings wrote.

“This is a FINAL and APPEALABLE Judgment,” Jennings wrote. “The Clerk of Court is directed to strike this matter from the Court's active docket.”

Note: This is an updated version of a previously published story that contained an error describing the ruling. TDN regrets the mistake.

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Vermeulen’s Appeal Denied, Ban Goes Into Effect

Trainer Fabrice Vermeulen's appeal was denied by a judge in the administrative court of Amiens and his six-month suspension began on Thursday, the Jour de Galop reported on Friday evening. The trainer was attempting to deny the decision of the France Galop appeals committee, who handed down a six-month ban for alleged ownership record falsifications. As a result, Vermeulen's six-month suspension, of which three months was suspended for five years, started on Thursday, Apr. 28 and will last through Thursday, July 28, 2022. Final declarations from Vermeulen's yard will be invalidated. Pretty Tiger (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), a multiple group winner, has been transferred to Pia and Joakim Brandt and is due to start in the G1 Prix Ganay on Sunday.

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Judge Delays Ruling On Baffert’s Lawsuit Against NYRA

Judge Carol Bagley Amon declined to render a verdict during Monday's hearing in trainer Bob Baffert's civil case against the New York Racing Association, according to bloodhorse.com. Instead, the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York judge plans to consider attorney statements from both sides before issuing her ruling at a later, unspecified date.

Baffert filed suit against NYRA on June 14, nearly a month after the racing association notified the Hall of Fame trainer that he was temporarily banned from racing or stabling at NYRA tracks while the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission conducts its investigation into the post-race drug positive for Baffert-trained Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first in the May 1 Kentucky Derby. Baffert is seeking a temporary and permanent injunction against the ban.

As defendant in the case, NYRA filed a memorandum of law on June 30 in opposition to Baffert's motion for preliminary injunction. The Jockey Club filed a brief on that same date as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, claiming that its role as keeper of the Stud Book gives it a “unique interest in ensuring that when Thoroughbreds enter the breeding shed (where they determine the future of the breed through progeny), they do so with records uninfluenced by the effects of medication.”

On July 7, attorneys for Baffert filed their own memorandum of law, which consisted of 434 pages and included an affidavit from the trainer. In the memo, Baffert's attorneys allege that NYRA has “vindictively” targeted the trainer utilizing “hypocrisy” and “backdoor” tactics. The filing also zeroes in on two legal arguments: that the ban violates the trainer's right to due process, and that NYRA has no authority to issue a ban.

Judge in Navarro, Servis Case Denies Motion to Recuse

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York angrily dismissed a motion from attorneys representing defendants in the wide-ranging doping scandal involving Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro that she recuse herself from the case. The lawyers had brought up conflict of interest concerns because she was the co-breeder of two horses that competed a total of four times against horses trained by Navarro and Servis between 2006 and 2009.

Vyskocil lashed out at the lawyers Friday, calling the motion “frivolous” and “meritless.”

“This meritless motion appears to be calculated to divert attention from the serious crimes with which the defendants have been accused and to obstruct and delay the orderly administration of the case,” she said. “The motion is denied as frivolous, an obvious tactful gambit to delay the determination of the defendants' motion to dismiss.”

Vyskocil's comments came during a status conference held Friday morning. The conference was intended to update attorneys from both sides on the status of discovery evidence and to pin down a date for trail. But the first 15 minutes or so of the conference involved only the motion to recuse and Vyskocil's forceful retort.

“The bad-faith motion is frivolous and was clearly calculated to generate diversionary press coverage, which it clearly already has,” Vyskocil said. “The motion contained multiple, plainly false statements which officers of the court should not have made in a public filing and which are not entitled to be dignified with point-by-point commentary.”

Equibase records list Vyskocil, a former member of New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., as the co-breeder, along with Barry Ostrager, of horses who had faced Servis and Navarro trainees during their careers. The defendants argued that because of her role in the industry Vyskocil could be biased and should step down. She was never listed as the owner or co-owner of the horses in question.

“There is no conflict here and no reasonable person would perceive one,” she said.

The case has slowly worked its way through the system since March, 2020 when indictments were announced against 27 individuals for their role in a scheme to dope horses with performance-enhancing drugs. Vyskocil made it clear that she was eager for the matter to proceed and head to trail. She called for the defendants to be divided into three separate groups with the trial for the first group to commence during the fourth quarter of 2021 with the other two trials set to begin early next year.

“We need this case to be moving toward a trial,” she said.

The possibility of superceding indictments that would include additional charges for those already indicted or, perhaps, charge individuals not yet named was discussed. Vyskocil addressed that possibility with Andrew Adams, the lead prosecutor in the case, who did not give a precise answer.

“With respect to new people who may or may not be added , as I have said all along, as the government continues to investigate this case and to investigate other related cases, there may well be other people who are charged,” Adams said. “There may be co-conspirators in this case, but the government would not expect that somebody added to the case today would be on the same schedule as the people who have been in the case. But that, again, would have no impact on the defendants that are currently in the case…It's also speculative. It is not our intention to announce a superceder next week or next month. As we sit here today I am not able to say that we are certainly or even likely to add charges in this case. It is all speculation and it need not delay moving the case forward.”

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