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Court Allows Ruis to Pursue Justify Matter

According to the attorneys representing Mick Ruis, a Los Angeles County Superior Court has ruled that the owner can continue his attempts to have the results of the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby overturned. In January, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) voted to abide by the stewards' decision to let the result stand, with Justify (Scat Daddy) declared the official winner.

The decision by Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff was in response to the CHRB's attempts to have the case halted based on a legal term known as a demurrer, which is an argument that there's no factual or legal basis for a case to go forward. With the ruling, Ruis's suit against the CHRB will now proceed. A trial date has tentatively been scheduled for August.

Ruis is the co-owner and also trained Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro). After it was revealed in a report in the New York Times that the Bob Baffert-trained Justify tested positive for the substance scopolamine, Ruis began his quest to have the result of the race overturned with Bolt d'Oro declared the winner.

Ruis alleges that the CHRB failed to follow its own rules when it decided not to pursue penalties after Justify tested positive for scopolamine. The CHRB acted on recommendations from then executive director Rick Baedeker and equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur. It was their call that Justify should not be disqualified because the positive test was the result of contamination linked to jimson weed.

At stake is the $600,000 winner's share of the purse. Second-place was worth $200,000.

“We just want simply for the Horse Racing Board to follow its own rules,” said Darrell Vienna, who, along with Carlo Fisco, is representing Ruis. “Their rules are unequivocal. They state that when a horse carries in its system a prohibited substance of the classification that scopolamine was classified at at the time of the race, they will be disqualified. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

Vienna said he is holding out hope that the CHRB will reverse directions.

“Potentially, this decision might open the CHRB's eyes and have them do the right thing rather than being forced to do so,” he said.

Friday, Vienna and Fisco issued a joint statement, which read: “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.”

At stake is the $600,000 winner's share of the purse. Second-place was worth $200,000.

Vienna said he is holding out hope that the CHRB will reverse directions.

“Potentially, this decision might open the CHRB's eyes and have them do the right thing rather than being forced to do so,” he said.

The post Court Allows Ruis to Pursue Justify Matter appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bolt d’Oro Continues to Reward Ruis

Three years ago, Mick Ruis purchased the 330-acre former Woodford Thoroughbreds outside Lexington and revamped his entire broodmare band with the sole focus on supporting his recently retired multiple Grade I winner Bolt d'Oro. With the stallion's first yearlings hitting the sales ring this summer to wide appeal, the decision is paying off in spades. Ruis was rewarded by two yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and will offer a filly by Bolt d'Oro during the first session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Monday.

“I would say 100% of my decision to sell the smaller farm, Chestnut Hill in Versailles, and to get Woodford Thoroughbreds had to do with Bolt,” Ruis said. “We have six barns, 90 stalls, 330 acres, 11 miles of fences and three miles of paved roads. It was so that, when I started breeding, we could raise a good horse. I bred 20 mares to Bolt myself.”

Ruis and his wife Wendy purchased Bolt d'Oro, a son of Medaglia d'Oro out of Globe Trot (A.P. Indy), for $630,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. The handsome bay opened his career with three straight wins, sweeping both the GI Del Mar Futurity and GI FrontRunner S. before finishing third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He inherited the win via disqualification in the 2018 GII San Felipe S. and was second behind subsequent Triple Crown winner Justify in a controversial edition of the GI Santa Anita Derby.

“Everything he did was natural and I knew he was going to pass his genes on,” Ruis said of his confidence in the young stallion, who is a half-brother to Grade I winner Global Campaign (Curlin) and stakes winner and multiple graded placed Sonic Mule (Distorted Humor). “He was so wonderful with all his natural speed, and the bloodlines–by Medaglia d'Oro out of a female family that was incredible.”

Bolt d'Oro retired to Spendthrift Farm in 2019 and began his stud career at a fee of $25,000. Ruis retained a 50% interest in the stallion and began planning his new breeding program.

“I think I had five mares [before Bolt d'Oro retired],” Ruis said. “Now we have 40 broodmares. I spent over $5.5 million in two years upgrading my broodmare band. That's just for broodmares. And then I got some younger, 2 and 3-year-old fillies that I spent good money on at auction for the bloodlines when they got done racing to go to Bolt.”

Ruis plans on sending his entire foal crop through the sales ring.

“I am going to sell because I don't want people to say we only keep the good ones and sell the other ones,” he explained.

Ruis sent two yearlings by Bolt d'Oro through the ring at Saratoga last month with the South Point Sales Agency consignment.

A filly by the stallion (hip 186) sold for $500,000. She is out of Scenic Road (Quality Road), who was purchased by Ruis while carrying the filly for $240,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale. A colt (hip 144) sold for $250,000. That yearling is out of the unraced Mary Edna (Pioneerof the Nile), who was purchased by Ruis for $825,000 as a yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September sale.

“They got a lot of looks and people loved them,” Ruis said of his Saratoga offerings. “And I thought, 'Wow, they should come see the ones that I have at the farm. I have 18 Bolts. I took two to Saratoga and I have 16 left. The people were teasing me, they were calling me Pappa Bolt. But me breeding 20 and I think there were 198 registered foals in his first crop, so it's not like I'm the only guy who bred to Bolt.”

Indeed, Bolt d'Oro's biggest success at Saratoga came from a colt bred by Dede McGehee's Heaven Trees Farm. The half-brother to champion Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) was purchased by Larry Best's OXO Equine for $1.4 million.

“I spent about half an hour just looking at him and saying, 'What a gorgeous creature,'” Ruis said of the seven-figure yearling.

Of the colt's headline-garnering result, Ruis added, “It was very gratifying to know that we went in the right direction. I feel like I got the right partners when I went with Spendthrift and Mr. [B. Wayne] Hughes. Over the last four years, I had, not only a business partnership, but a friendship with Mr. Hughes and I learned a lot of business values and integrity from him. That man did things his way. I remember when I was being courted by every farm to try to buy Bolt as a stallion and someone said, 'Why are you going to Walmart?' And now I'm saying, 'Walmart is kicking everybody's butt.' I know I picked the right partners, they are like family, it's easy.”

Ruis will offer his third yearling by Bolt d'Oro when South Point Sales Agency sends a daughter of Teroda (Limehouse) (hip 194) through the ring at Keeneland Monday.

“She is an absolute standout,” Ruis said of the filly. “She is an absolutely beautiful filly.”

Ruis purchased Teroda, with the filly in utero, for $275,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November sale. The 13-year-old mare is the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Sombeyay (Into Mischief) and graded stakes winner Domain Expertise (Kitten's Joy). Her 4-year-old daughter Bruja Escarlata (Street Boss) opened her career with three straight wins for Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler before suffering her first loss when sixth in the Daisycutter S. at Del Mar in July.

“That mare has two stakes winners out of three babies and John Sadler thinks Bruja Escarlata will be a stakes winner after her next race,” Ruis said. “If you look at what I paid for her, what a steal that ended up being. Sometimes you get those good stories.”

Of similarities he sees in Bolt d'Oro's first crop of yearlings, Ruis said, “He is really stamping them with that big square front end and nice-boned babies with big shoulders. I am not a professional in breeding, but everyone said, 'Wow, Bolt is just stamping his babies.' They all look alike and all look good.”

After the Bolt d'Oro hype builds through the yearling sales, Ruis said he plans on offering weanlings by the sire this fall.

“I have some drop-dead gorgeous weanlings by him,” Ruis said. “So I'll probably put a few weanlings in the [November] sale also. People can get an idea now that this is what they look like as a yearling, so when they are buying these weanlings, it isn't so much of a guessing game. I'll probably sell five or six weanlings in November.”

The Keeneland September sale begins Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions commencing at 1 p.m. Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday begin at 11 a.m. Following a dark day Friday, the auction continues through Sept. 24 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

The post Bolt d’Oro Continues to Reward Ruis appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Arthur: Post Story Questioning Justify Case Was A Plant From Ruis Legal Team

In the second of a two-part question and answer with the Thoroughbred Daily News, retiring California equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur casts doubt on the origins of new reporting on the 2018 Justify scopolamine case. Arthur, who has served in the role 15 years, was the subject of a critical report by the Washington Post in late June suggesting that he had deliberately stalled the investigative process of Justify's scopolamine overage until after the horse had completed his Triple Crown bid.

When speaking to the TDN, Arthur maintained that the investigation — and others into high scopolamine tests which also resulted in no sanctions — was by handled as suggested by staff counsel. He also said he thought the legal team for Mick Ruis, who filed a lawsuit over the handling of the Justify case, was behind the Post's story, with help from CHRB commissioner Oscar Gonzales.

“I don't know if Oscar was the one, but Oscar has certainly been the proponent of keeping the Justify issue alive. Actually, I filed a whistleblower complaint against Commissioner Gonzales for basically arguing the Justify case as if he was representing Ruis with talking points that were clearly provided by Darrell Vienna,” Arthur said. “I'm sure Commissioner Gonzales knows that I filed a whistleblower complaint. I think I haven't hidden my disdain for Commissioner Gonzales for a long time.

“There certainly have been attorneys that have tried to play commissioners over the years. And I think that we have an ambitious petty politician that wants to make a name for himself that allowed himself to be played. The Justify case was dismissed in accordance to state law, and it was not dismissed by Rick Arthur. It was not dismissed by [former CHRB executive director] Rick Baedeker. It was dismissed by the board, which is required by law. And that was done properly in accordance to law.”

Beyond his response to the Post story, Arthur told the TDN he believes California has made significant progress in the areas of equine welfare and safety in the 15 years he has been involved. Some regulations might be a little extreme, he admitted, but he thinks the state will find the balance with time.

Justify Case Likely Heading To Court After CHRB Votes To Uphold 2018 Santa Anita Derby Win

The California Horse Racing Board voted Thursday to let the stewards' decision stand and leave eventual Triple Crown champion Justify the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

After a hearing on October 29, 2020, the Board of Stewards at Santa Anita Park racetrack issued a Statement of Decision on December 9 to dismiss complaints filed by the current California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in the combined cases of the horses Justify and Hoppertunity, both of whom had scopolamine detected in post-race samples following their victories.

CHRB filed the complaint as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by Mick Ruis, owner of Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bolt d'Oro.

Meeting in executive session Thursday, the seven commissioners considered dual requests from Ruis to either appeal that decision by the stewards or overturn it outright. The commissioners rejected both requests.

“Unbelievable,” said Darrell Vienna, attorney for Ruis. “It's very disappointing. I guess they want to go to court.”

Vienna said he is considering “a number of legal theories to proceed under” in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“It ain't over till the fat lady sings,” Vienna said, “and she's just getting warmed up.”

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