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Letter To The Editor: NYRA Stands Firm As Its ‘Right Of Exclusion’ Is Tested

I have been heralding a racetrack's right of exclusion throughout my career. This court tested policy enables track management the right to deny an individual the privilege to race if the individual's participation is deemed to be a detriment to the best business interest of the facility.

The implementation of this policy is critical to horse racing's ability to regain the public trust that has been waning for decades. Our regulators charged with maintaining the integrity of racing have failed and, in many instances, outright refused to implement rules, seriously damaging the public perception of our sport.

Kudos to the New York Racing Association (NYRA) as they have implemented their right of exclusion barring Bob Baffert from participating at any of their facilities. This could be the watershed moment that can turn the tide in racing's demise.

In 2018 Justify the Triple Crown winner tested positive in the Santa Anita Derby for scopolamine, a banned human medication. Long after the unprecedented surreptitious investigation the drug violation was declared an environmental poisoning, a determination applied to medication irregularities for this trainer in the past.

The scandal did not come to light for over a year until a New York Times investigation unearthed the failure of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to follow equine drug positive investigative protocols. In recent weeks, the Washington Post via documents acquired through a freedom of information request have detailed the scope of corrupt CHRB actions enabling an ineligible horse to enter and win the Kentucky Derby.

Medina Spirit's betamethasone positive in this year's Kentucky Derby is the second incident involving illicit medication issues in the Kentucky Derby since 2018, both under the care and supervision of the same trainer.

These incidents exponentially support the need for racetrack's right of exclusion policy and more importantly the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority.

The Medina Spirit incident appears to be the straw that broke the horse's back. Taking into consideration recent medication irregularities, NYRA and Churchill Downs exerted their right of exclusion barring Bob Baffert from racing at their facilities.

Mr. Baffert has decided on legal action to test the court approved right of exclusion policy citing the 14^th Amendment due process rights, also noting the irreparable damage to his reputation.

Courageously, NYRA is steadfast in their commitment to exclude Mr. Baffert, notifying the court of a motion to dismiss his lawsuit and also noting that the irreparable damage to his reputation was self-inflicted.

We need the horse racing gods to set the court on the right path supporting the right of exclusion.

–Arthur Gray is a longtime horseman, steward and integrity consultant from West Seneca, N.Y.

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

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Five Owners On The Verge Of Leaving Bob Baffert Over NYRA Ban, Legal Filing Reveals

According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, Judge Carol Bagley Amon ordered attorneys for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to divulge specific names relating to his claim in a July 7 affidavit stating: “I have recently had conversations with other owners who have stated that they may move their horses to other trainers if the New York suspension continues.”

A one-page letter filed on Friday revealed five names: “Gavin Murphy of SF Bloodstock; Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing; Peter Fluor of Speedway Stable; Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables; and George Bolton.”

Judge Amon issued the order to reveal names of owners considering leaving Baffert's stable in response to the New York Racing Association's motion to strike the trainer's affidavit from the record.

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.

That same filing also details the exodus of horses owned by WinStar Farm from Baffert's stable as an example of the type of harm that the ban will cause to the trainer's livelihood.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Additional stories about Baffert's Kentucky Derby positive and ensuing legal battles, listed in order from most recent to the original story:

The post Five Owners On The Verge Of Leaving Bob Baffert Over NYRA Ban, Legal Filing Reveals appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Baffert Attorneys: ‘It Does Not Serve The Integrity Of Horse Racing To Suspend First And Ask Questions Later’

Just five days before a scheduled hearing, attorneys for embattled trainer Bob Baffert filed a 434-page memorandum supporting their attempt to convince the court to overturn the New York Racing Association's ban on Baffert. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, 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.

“Nowhere in NYRA's Response is there any contention that Baffert has violated any New York statute or racing rule,” the memo states. “In fact, the opposite is true. Over the course of his 46-year training career, including more than 30 years of racing in New York, Baffert has never even been accused of violating a New York rule and he has never faced discipline from either NYRA or the New York State Gaming Commission [NYSGC].

“Despite his distinguished New York racing career, without even a hint of wrongdoing, NYRA believes it has free rein to unilaterally void his constitutionally protected property rights and ban him from all activity in New York without notice and for an indefinite period of time based solely on unproven allegations of a minor infraction (an overage of an allowable medication) in another jurisdiction.”

Both those court filings struck the same note, countering Baffert's argument that he will suffer irreparable harm as a result of his ban from Belmont Park and the upcoming high-profile meeting at Saratoga.

In response, the July 7 memo from Baffert's attorneys argues: “There is no compensating for the missed opportunity to participate in prestigious races that define the success of a trainer's career and garner goodwill with clients. NYRA's argument that Baffert cannot prove irreparable harm because he can still race in other states is missing the mark. First, there is no meet more prestigious than Saratoga and the gravitas and economic benefit that come from New York racing cannot be overstated. (…) Baffert's runners in New York win almost three times the amount that they do outside New York. This demonstrates the importance of NYRA racing to Baffert despite the fact that he races in other jurisdictions.”

NYRA's June 30 memo contends that the decision to ban Baffert “was based on probable cause that plaintiff's actions warranted suspension and was necessary to protect the safety of the racehorses and their riders, and required to ensure the integrity of the sport.”

Baffert's attorneys insist that NYRA acting on behalf of the sport's integrity is a “false narrative.”

“The fact NYRA routinely allows onto its tracks trainers who have actually been found to have broken New York's rules of racing completely shatters that false narrative,” their July 7 memo states. “NYRA smears Baffert with allegations about other positive tests, without providing the critical context of those, including that they involved minor overages of permitted substances, none of which merited a suspension and some of which, Baffert was, for all practical purposes, vindicated. … It does not serve the 'integrity' of horse racing to suspend first and ask questions later.”

A hearing on the motion for injunctive relief is scheduled for July 12.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Additional stories about Baffert's Kentucky Derby positive and ensuing legal battles, listed in order from most recent to the original story:

The post Baffert Attorneys: ‘It Does Not Serve The Integrity Of Horse Racing To Suspend First And Ask Questions Later’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Baffert Alleges ‘Hypocrisy’ & ‘Backdoor Tactics’ Behind NYRA Ban

Alleging “hypocrisy” and “backdoor” tactics on the part of defendant New York Racing Association (NYRA) to “vindictively target” Bob Baffert, attorneys for the seven-time GI Kentucky Derby winning trainer supplied a federal judge with a 434-page “memo” Wednesday in support of trying to get the court to overturn a NYRA-imposed ban on Baffert.

NYRA's exclusion of Baffert from Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack was mandated May 17 by the association because of the Hall of Fame trainer's repeated equine medication violations in other jurisdictions.

The voluminous electronic file of the plaintiff's arguments and exhibits was uploaded to United States District Court (Eastern District of New York) July 7, just five days before the case is scheduled to come before the judge next Monday morning.

According to queries from lawyers listed in the case file, attorneys still didn't know late in the day Wednesday if the judge expected them to arrange for live witnesses to testify at Monday's hearing, or if the court proceedings would be conducted solely via attorney arguments (which is what counsel for both parties wrote that they preferred).

“Nowhere in NYRA's Response is there any contention that Baffert has violated any New York statute or racing rule,” the trainer's attorneys wrote in the filing. “In fact, the opposite is true. Over the course of his 46-year training career, including more than 30 years of racing in New York, Baffert has never even been accused of violating a New York rule and he has never faced discipline from either NYRA or the New York State Gaming Commission [NYSGC].

Wednesday's memo from the plaintiff caps a week-long flurry of back-and-forth legal filings in the case, which was initiated June 14 when Baffert filed a civil complaint against NYRA, alleging that the banishment violates his Fourteenth Amendment constitutional right to due process.

NYRA told the court this week that it opposes Baffert getting any type of injunction that would overrule its ban, which the association imposed in the wake of Baffert's shifting explanations after Medina Spirit (Protonico) tested positive for betamethasone after winning the May 1 Kentucky Derby.

That finding was the fifth drug positive in a Baffert trainee over the last year and his third in a Grade I stakes during that time. Medina Spirit's positive has not yet been adjudicated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, but the gaming corporation Churchill Downs, Inc., has already barred Baffert for a two-year period from its five Thoroughbred tracks.

One new bone of contention that emerged in the July 7 filing is that Baffert's legal team isn't pleased with NYRA's repeated categorization that its ban on Baffert is “temporary” (NYRA did initially tell Baffert via letter that it would reconsider his exclusion once Kentucky based on information revealed during the course of the investigation.)

“One thing is clear: there is nothing 'temporary' about NYRA's suspension,” Baffert's filing stated. “It is now running on 51 days with no end in sight, and with no mention of a hearing through which the suspension would potentially be lifted. And if NYRA's goal was to keep Medina Spirit out of the [GI] Belmont [S.], that mission was accomplished.

“The Belmont was run more than a month ago and NYRA offers no reason for why the 'temporary' suspension should continue indefinitely–other than the debunked notion that it is acting to protect the 'interest of horse racing.' Enough is enough.

“This hypocrisy clearly demonstrates that NYRA's claim it must act against Baffert to protect the 'interest of racing' is totally false–NYRA's own prior actions prove that affording due process to trainers is perfectly consistent with NYRA's mission. It is clear that NYRA's stated need to exclude Baffert immediately 'in the interest of racing' is little more than a pretext to vindictively target him.”

The defendant's attorneys contended last week in an opposing memo that “Given Plaintiff's history of drug-related violations, Medina Spirit's positive test, Plaintiff's contradictory statements, Plaintiff's [then-temporary] suspension from Churchill Downs, and the fact that the Belmont was fast approaching, NYRA took the only sensible action under the circumstances–it temporarily suspended Plaintiff from entering and stabling horses at its Racetracks.”

In response, the plaintiff's filing on July 7 tried to boil down the legal merits of the case as such: “First, Baffert was not afforded any due process before he was summarily suspended by NYRA. He was given no notice of any charges against him and no opportunity to be heard. Instead, he received a letter stating that he was immediately suspended and would not be permitted to race any horses in New York. That letter was issued over 50 days ago and, to date, Baffert has not been afforded a due process hearing. Courts have continually rejected NYRA's efforts to either deny or limit a licensee's right of access to racetracks without pre-deprivation due process of law.”

“Second, NYRA does not have the authority to suspend Baffert trainer's license under New York law. That authority rests exclusively with the NYSGC. As long as Baffert has a valid trainer's license with the Gaming Commission–which he does–NYRA cannot prohibit him from exercising that license at New York's state-owned racetracks. If it believes Baffert has

engaged in conduct that warrants the suspension of his license, it needs to take that matter up with the [NYSGC, which has] been noticeably silent throughout this process because, unlike NYRA, it is following New York racing law and waiting for the administrative process related to Medina Spirit that is currently ongoing in Kentucky to play out before taking any action.

“Neither may NYRA claim under these circumstances that it has some common-law right of exclusion that empowers it to prohibit Baffert from exercising his constitutionally protected right to use his trainer's license. NYRA's suspension of Baffert is 'tantamount' to revoking his license issued by the NYSGC, and NYRA may not do through the backdoor what it is statutorily prohibited from doing through the front,” the filing stated.

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