Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

Jockey Club Wants to Give ‘Unique Perspective’ in Baffert vs. NYRA Suit

The Jockey Club (TJC) now wants to get involved in trainer Bob Baffert's federal lawsuit against the New York Racing Association (NYRA), which seeks to overturn his banishment from stabling and racing horses at Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, and Aqueduct Racetrack.

In a June 22 letter to United States District Court (Eastern District of New York), Susan Phillips Read, an attorney for TJC, asked permission to file an “amicus” brief that she believes will “provide the Court with a unique perspective and information to assist in deciding the pending motion for preliminary injunction.”

Baffert was told by NYRA that he was not welcome to stable or race at the association's three tracks on May 17 in the wake of his disclosure that Medina Spirit (Protonico) had tested positive for betamethasone after winning the GI Kentucky Derby. That revelation by Baffert was later confirmed by split-sample testing at two different labs approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, but no ruling has yet been issued over those findings.

On June 14, Baffert filed a civil complaint against NYRA, alleging that the association-level ban violates his Fourteenth Amendment constitutional right to due process. He wants a preliminary and permanent injunction ordered against NYRA to prevent his further banishment from those tracks, claiming that if that does not happen, he will suffer immediate and irreparable harm.

The betamethasone finding in the Derby was the fifth positive test in a Baffert trainee for a regulated but prohibited-on-race-day drug within the past year (two others were for lidocaine, one was for dextrorphan, and another also for betamethasone). It was the third during that time frame to occur in a Grade I stakes.

While all of this has been going on, Baffert has also been embroiled in a long and complicated court and racing commission battle in California over whether to disqualify 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify from that year's GI Santa Anita Derby because of a scopolamine finding.

“TJC has long believed that horses must only race when they are free from the effects of medication, and vociferously advocated for the passage of The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act,” Read wrote. “TJC thus has a special interest in sharing with the Court its perspective regarding the deleterious effects of improper drug use on the health of horses, the Thoroughbred racing industry, and public trust in the honesty of competition.

“Further, TJC, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries and Thoroughbred Safety Committee, has access to information not necessarily available to the parties,” Read wrote.

Read wrote that she has asked the attorneys for both parties for consent to file TJC's amicus brief. NYRA's counsel has given permission; Baffert's has not.

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Sadler: Santa Anita Derby Winner Rock Your World Will Return To Turf

Trainer John Sadler told the Daily Racing Form Sunday that Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World will return to turf for his next start.

The 3-year-old son of Candy Ride won his first two starts on the grass, then dominated by over five lengths when switched to the dirt for the Santa Anita Derby. A tough trip saw the colt finish 17th in the Kentucky Derby, and Rock Your World did not threaten when sixth in the Belmont Stakes five weeks later.

Now, Sadler said the long-range target is the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby (nine furlongs on the turf) on Sept. 4. If Rock Your World is ready and requires a prep race, the G3 La Jolla (1 1/16 miles on the grass) on Aug. 8 is a possibility.

Judge Gives Go-Ahead for Additional Testing of Medina Spirit Sample

Judge Thomas Wingate outlined the travel protocol to a New York lab Wednesday for the urine sample collected from Medina Spirit (Protonico) following his Kentucky Derby win last month, reported the Blood-Horse Wednesday. The Circuit Court Judge, who granted Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing and Bob Baffert the right to conduct further testing on the split sample, issued a temporary injunction Wednesday, outlining the flight plans, which will be funded by the plaintiffs. The judge, who stated that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission retain five milliliters of the sample, ordered at least two commission representatives to accompany the sample to the New York Drug Testing and Research Program in Ithaca, New York. The 3-year-old's connections believe additional testing will support their argument that Medina Spirit's Betamethasone positive stems from the administration of the topical ointment Otomax.

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Judge Orders Specific Additional Testing Of Medina Spirit Split Sample

Judge Thomas Wingate issued a written decision on June 16 regarding plans for the remaining urine sample of Kentucky Derby first place finisher Medina Spirit, reports bloodhorse.com. The decision follows a June 11 hearing in Franklin County Circuit Court, in which Judge Wingate determined that the legal team for Medina Spirit's connections will be permitted to do extra testing on a urine sample (the “split sample”) taken from the colt after the Kentucky Derby and held by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

The case is based on the finding of betamethasone in a post-race sample of Medina Spirit, collected immediately after the colt crossed the wire first in the Kentucky Derby.

Counsel for Medina Spirit's trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Stables filed a civil suit against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission last week demanding their right to test the split urine sample, which sat undisturbed in the commission's freezer. Remnants of the original biologic samples were initially sent to be tested for those ingredients, but they were reportedly damaged before arrival at the plaintiffs' choice of labs.

Judge Wingate ordered Wednesday that the remaining urine sample will be flown to the plaintiffs' choice of lab for testing, that two KHRC representatives travel with the sample, and that plaintiffs will fund the flight. Upon arrival, the KHRC will retain 5 milliliters of the sample, while the remainder will be tested for clotrimazole, gentamicin, and betamethasone valerate.

Those are the three active ingredients in Otomax, a topical cream which attorneys for Baffert and Zedan claim is behind the positive finding of betamethasone in Medina Spirit. Attorneys for Baffert and Zedan went to court to push for the the testing because they believe lab evidence backing up the presence of Otomax's ingredients would prove to be exculpatory or mitigating when Kentucky stewards eventually conduct a hearing on the case.

Jennifer Wolsing, general counsel for the KHRC, declined to speculate on whether a topical administration of betamethasone would require an exoneration in the case or whether it could be considered a “mitigating circumstance” with regards to penalty. She did point to the commission's drug classification guidelines, which make reference to betamethasone without specifying what route of administration would result in a Class C finding. The only question at hand for the June 11 proceeding, she asserted, was what was to be done about further testing of the remaining biological samples.